No More Secrets
by Hajimari
Summary: Nanoha likes Yuuno, and her feelings were returned after a string of events and a confession. But unexpectedly, a heart has already been broken, and it isn't Chrono, whose ex crush had been Nanoha. [NanohaYuuno, ChronoFate]
1. Thoughts

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: My first Nanoha fanfic. This story pairings are Nanoha x Yuuno and Chrono x Fate (I know they don't really communicate well with each other in the Anime, but they look really cute together, though I thought Chrono might go well with Nanoha too…) There might be some signs of Nanoha x Chrono at either the start or middle, so bear with it.

Summary: Nanoha, Fate and Chrono are average high school students, and best friends. They'll always stick up for each other when needed. But what if Nanoha asks them for suggestions to help her confess her feelings to her crush? Especially when he is the school's most popular guy, Yuuno Scrya? (Nanoha x Yuuno Chrono x Fate)

Characters' age: Nanoha, Yuuno, Fate, Chrono (14 years old)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Chapter 1: Thoughts**_

**Nanoha's POV**

Only five more minutes until school starts! I thought as I rushed to school, running with all my strength. I woke up late today, but it wasn't entirely my fault! My parents left for the store early that morning to make the cakes that some customers ordered; my brother and sister went to school early in the morning for their duty. I had forgotten to charge my handphone battery and this morning, it died on me. I could never wake up early without my phone, it was where my alarm was.

When I reached the school, I looked at my watch, three more minutes! I rushed up to class and luckily, the bell rang right after I stepped into the class. I panted as I went to seat, catching a breather. Suddenly, I felt someone tapping me from behind. I turned and saw Fate Testarossa, one of my best friend.

"You're lucky that you came to class just one time." She said softly, just loud enough for me to hear. "She's right, you know." I turned to the side where that voice came from and saw another one of my best friend, Chrono Haraoun. Knowing him, I knew I was about to get a lecture from him. "It's already so late and…" Chrono said. I saw Fate rolling her eyes and said, "For heaven's sake, Chrono, spare us the lecture." Her voice sounded through half the class, and she was lucky that the teacher wasn't here, yet. Almost everyone looked at her, but she didn't care. That was what I liked about her, she was so cool about everything.

"Us?" Chrono asked confusingly. "Well, since you're lecturing her, and since I'm listening, it's considered as two person. And when there are two or more people, it's considered as 'they'. Gee, didn't they teach in English class, or weren't you listening?" Fate said in a matter-of-factly tone. "Of course I did!" Chrono retorted, "It's just that I wasn't counting you in the lecture."

Fate rolled her eyes and Chrono faced Nanoha, saying, "Point is…" "Class, settle down!" A feminine voice called. Chrono and Fate returned to their seats. For once, I was grateful for the teacher in stepping into class at the right time, preventing me from Chrono's lecture. I knew Chrono was still upset with me being late. But I have no idea why. It seems that sometimes, whenever I wanted to do something, he would stop me. He would that they are not good actions and told me not to do it.

Like the time when I was hungry when they (Fate and Chrono) came to my house. I wanted to eat my brother's share of cake; Chrono told me that if I ate it, my brother would angry with me. And in the end, I didn't eat it, fearing that like Chrono said, he might be angry. But still, I wonder why. I knew he was concerned about me because I was his best friend, but there's something different back there, and I have no idea what was it.

"Nanoha." The teacher called my name and I raised my hand to confirm her that I was present. As the teacher continued her attendance taking, I looked over to the boy sitting in front of Chrono. He was so cool, even by looking at his back view.

Yuuno was my crush since my friends and I were ten years old. He is so cool and helpful, had a kind face and nice personality, there are so much good things to say about him! I always wanted to tell him that I like him, but I didn't dare to. What if he likes me only as a friend? What if he even didn't know I existed? But now, three years have passed, and I really want to tell him about my feelings. Maybe I should ask Fate and Chrono about it. I knew that even though I'll get a huge lecture from Chrono, but he'll still be able give me brilliant ideas on confessing my feelings for him. As for Fate, I'm very confident that she'll give me extra helpful tips, anyway, she was the school's most popular girl and there are a lot of boys who liked her, though she doesn't care about popularity.

"Okay, class. Today, I will be telling you about your upcoming project. You will be divided into pairs and this project would be counted in your final year grade. As for the pairing, we will be drawing lots." The teacher, Miss Hiroka announced. The class gave sounds of protests. Did I also mention that Yuuno was also very popular? I bet girls in the class were protesting because they couldn't be paired with him, as for the boys, well, same goes for them with Fate.

"Fate and Chrono. Nanoha and Yuuno. Mizuki and Daisuke…" Miss Hiroka called out the pair. Oh my gosh! Did I hear wrong? Did I just get paired with Yuuno? After Miss Hiroka called out all the pairings, everyone went to their partners. I saw Yuuno coming towards me and asked, "So, you want to talk about the project, Nanoha?" I blushed and nodded shyly.

Actually, the real reason I like about Yuuno came about on the first day he transferred to our school. It was a very little thing he did, but it never left my mind…

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End of chapter 1. I was actually thinking that Yuuno should be the best friend instead of Chrono, but I scraped the idea. I also like Nanoha and Chrono together, but I like Nanoha and Yuuno more. If anyone of you wants me to write a fanfic about Nanoha and Chrono, just tell me, and I'll try to think of another plot of it. In the mean time, please R&R! Thank you and hope you enjoyed reading it!


	2. The New Student

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha

A/N: I've just recently watched Nanoha A's, and I thought Chrono is kind of liking Fate, so I was glad that I've made Chrono and Fate together in this fanfic. Though I was disgusted by the fact that Lindy is adopting Fate as her daughter, Fate and Chrono would be siblings! Well, guess I can't change what the producers think, right? And I'm sorry for not adding Arisa and Suzuka because I'm don't really think they'll be important to this story. Okay, let's get on with the story! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Chapter 2: The New Student**_

_Nanoha's POV (Narrates about the past)_

I was a third-grader then. That day, I was talking to Fate and Chrono. They were my best friends since then. The time passed so fast, and the next minute we know, Miss Hiroka came into the class. She started the greeting and we politely did so too, it was a daily routine for the class.

"Class, we have a new student today." Miss Hiroka announced, and the whole class, including my group, started to talk about it. Murmurs could be heard throughout the whole class even though we whispered.

Miss Hiroka silenced us, "His name is Yuuno Scrya and he's from Tomoeda. Come in please, Yuuno." She called towards the door. Yuuno obeyed and walked into the class after opening and closing the door. When he went to Miss Hiroka's side, girls were heard swooning over him even though he was new here.

"Tell us about yourself, Yuuno." Miss Hiroka faced Yuuno, asking him to introduce himself.

Yuuno smiled at the teacher and nodded to the teacher, then Yuuno faced the class again, introducing himself in a very polite manner, "My name is Yuuno Scrya and I'm from Tomoeda. I like to play soccer and plans to join either the science club or the soccer team, whichever accepts me. I hope all of you will guide me since I'm new here." With that, he bowed gracefully and came up again.

"Let see, where will you seat?" The teacher said to herself, scanning the classroom for empty seats. At this time, I saw girls around were all urging the surrounding boys to move to the empty seat, which is in front of Chrono.

But of course, even though it's not my position to say so, Yuuno was very cute and in my sense, he was quite handsome. He had blond hair to the length of his shoulders. He had a kind smile and kind eyes. He looked so cute! But I wasn't swooning over him as madly as other girls.

The boys were not relenting and refused to change seats despite being pleaded by girls, and I held back little laughter at this.

"Ah!" The teacher said loudly, catching the attention of every student in the class. "You shall seat there, Yuuno." Miss Hiroka pointed to the empty seat in front of Chrono and Yuuno smiled and walked towards the seat. The girls were all sighing and clearly angry with Miss Hiroka for not letting Yuuno sit beside them.

As Yuuno settled at his seat, the teacher said, "Now, I hope everyone of you would get comfortable with Yuuno. I have a meeting that would last about a period. I would like all of you to take this time and opportunity to get to know and be friends with Yuuno. Okay now, I better get going. Behave, children!" And Miss Hiroka went out of the class.

After Miss Hiroka went out of the class, or when she out of our sight, the class began to laugh, joke and talk loudly, a common sight you will see when the teacher is not in. No doubt, girls were starting to crowd around Yuuno, shooting questions at him, be it stupid or good ones.

"Which school did you attend in Tomoeda?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"What are your hobbies, Yuuno?"

"What are your favourite subjects?"

I sighed. Being Yuuno Scrya wasn't a good thing and even I have a feeling to pitying him. I didn't know if it is the volume of my sigh or whether he just notices me magically, but then, I saw him looking at me with a smile. I tried to be polite and smiled back.

Then I noticed that he stood up from his seat and came over to me. I didn't know how was he going to react. "Hi, nice to meet you. My name is Yuuno." He introduced himself, although I knew his name.

"My name is Takamachi Nanoha. Nice to meet you too." I smiled and said politely. I was kind of freaked out by the looks on the other girls face; they were furious, I was always known and saw as a plain Jane, even I dare to admit so. They were thinking why Yuuno would want to talk to me instead of them, some of them being even prettier than me, I knew what they were thinking because they never change the way they think. It was obvious from their thoughts and actions.

Yuuno took out his hand and I took out mine too, and we shook hands as an introduction to each other.

We began a friendly chat. I notice that he was ignoring all the other girls, and the girls were all looking at me with angry eyes, ready to kill me, but Yuuno and I ignored them.

Then I whispered to him, "Hey, Yuuno, aren't you bothered by the girls who are swooning over you? I know that if it was Chrono, the boy sitting behind you by the way and a good friend of mine, he'll be so bothered about it with girls chasing after him."

"No." He whispered back to me, "It's the same at Tomoeda, I'm used to it."

I laughed and I knew that the girls behind would think that Yuuno and I were exchanging loving messages, which is so out of point! I whispered because I didn't want them to know we're talking about them, or else I'll be officially dead.

When Miss Hiroka came in after her meeting, we all sat down at our seats, some of the girls were still discontented from how Yuuno reacted to me instead of them. But I shook those feelings and thoughts out of my head and concentrated on my studies alone.

When school ended later on that day, I had to walk home alone. Usually, Fate and Chrono would be with me, but today was an exception; they had a project to do together in school.

Halfway to getting home, I saw a big dog standing in the middle of the route I was about to walk to get home. It was barking furiously. I was scared stiff. Would it come and bite me? My tears threatened to fall, and they relented.

Just then, a hand touched my shoulder. I turned to look behind and saw Yuuno! "Yuuno! Why are you here?" I asked in between tears.

"I needed to pass this route to get home too. And I can see that the dog is blocking the way." He said, smiling at me.

Suddenly he grabbed my hand and continued to walk through the route. I began to protest.

"In case you didn't notice, there's a big dog in the middle of the route!" I cried.

"Don't worry, as long as you ignore the dog, to won't bite off your head." Yuuno reassured me.

I obeyed his instructions, and when we walked pass the dog, it just kept barking but didn't bite us. It was when we reached a spot far from the dog, Yuuno let go of my hand and said, "See? I told you everything is going to be fine!" I smiled and said, "Thank you so much, Yuuno!"

As we walked on the same route to our respective homes, we talked more and more, knowing more about our lives interests and other things. I found out that he was adopted but was still cheerful and grateful for the nice family he currently has. I found out that he was actually very smart too, having scored and getting first position every year in his previous school. He was also interested in soccer too, and from his bragging, I found out that he was the captain the team in Tomoeda Elementary School, and he aim to do so in the soccer team in our school. And about every girl's fantasy about him, I urged him to spill all of his adventures about that subject, although I knew how he felt with girls hot over his heels in class in the morning when we talked about it this morning. If you were there to hear this, you would have laughed so much your stomach would hurt, which apparently happened to me.

When I reached home, I asked, "Yuuno, would you like to come in to have a drink? As a thank you for 'rescuing' me from the dog?"

Yuuno laughed and said, "I would love to, but I have stuff to do at home. Maybe next time, okay?"

I nodded and waved to him goodbye then went into the empty house. Mother, father, brother and sister weren't back. Mother and brother are helping in our new café, Midoriya. Father was at a hospital, he was injured while working, and sister was there to help nurse him.

I was very alone. I decided to watch the cartoons shown on the television while sipping my orange juice I poured for myself. When the commercial was shown, I thought about the events just now. Yuuno…

Wait, was I thinking about him? I blushed and felt my heart skipped. He was so cute, friendly, kind and brave. I think I fell in love with him…

_Still in Nanoha POV (Present)_

Yes, it was then I was very sure that I am in love with him. I like him so much.

"Are you listening? Nanoha?" Yuuno snapped me back into reality with his voice. Although I wasn't so much of paying attention of what he said, I knew that he was talking about the project that Miss Hiroka had just assigned to us.

"Sorry, I was daydreaming just now. Could you repeat what you said just now? I wasn't listening." I apologized, admitted and requested.

He smiled and nodded. This time, I was paying my full attention, listening to him about his ideas. Occasionally, I gave my opinions and ideas.

I felt so happy just even by looking at his face which was lited by his smile as he fired out what he has and wants to say.

Yuuno-kun…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End of chapter two. I hesitated about what Yuuno did for Nanoha that makes her like him. But I thought about the dog one, I hope I did well in this chapter! Please R&R and thank you for reading my fanfic!


	3. Heartbeat and Thrill

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Sorry for not updating in such a long time, I have been rather busy. I present chapter three to you now and I hope you'll enjoy it!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Chapter 3: Heartbeat and Thrill**_

_Nanoha's POV_

As the bell rang, the class was dismissed for lunch. I sighed with relief and took out the lunchbox my mother had made for me that morning. I turned my chair around to face Fate while Chrono came and join us, each of them taking their lunchbox out too. We were eating lunch together in class like we always did. "The project Miss Hiroka assigned for us was a total rip-off. It was about the maths statistics poster for heaven's sake! It shouldn't be counted in the damn exam!" Chrono complained, and Fate and I knew why; Chrono isn't a genius when it comes to maths.

"Come on, Chrono!" I heard Fate said and saw her roll her eyes, "Consider yourself lucky." "For what?" Chrono said, not believing what he heard. "Well," Fate said, "If you knew what 1-Hoshi was doing, you'll be glad you ever got this project."

In my school, there were six forms; forms one to three were considered juniors and form four to six were seniors. And we are the junior form. There are six classes in each form. All the names of all the forms are the same, the only difference is the number, which is in front, and it stands for which form you are in. There are Hoshi, Hana, Tsuki, Mizu, Yoru and Sakura, and I was in 1-Sakura.

"What are they doing?" Chrono asked confusingly. Fate sighed and said, "Apparently, 1-Hoshi is doing an experiment about dissecting fish and taking out their gills. The teacher is going to grade them on how they dissect it, and I'm not talking about slicing the whole fish, there is a method of doing it. Thinking about it makes me get goose bumps." After she explained finished, I saw her shuddering. I looked at Chrono and his face was pale, but he managed to say, "Yuck! That's gross. I think I lost my appetite. Are you sure that's true?" Chrono asked.

"Duh!" Fate chewed on her sashimi and rolled her eyes. "So do you still want that?" Fate asked with interest as she stared at Chrono's lunchbox. "Of course. I don't want to starve myself just because of some fish being dissected." Chrono mumbled, loud enough for Fate and I to hear. I saw Fate's face fell. Who could blame her actually? Chrono's lunchbox was something I know loads of people would be waiting for. Fate admitted that she loved her mother's food, but she loved Chrono's food more.

As they ate, Fate said to Nanoha slyly, "So, who's your project partner?" Chrono sighed and said, "Are you serious, Fate? You well know it is Yuuno! Yuuno Scrya!" Fate was pissed off and retorted, "Of course I know that, but it's just… Oh, why do I have to tell you what is this about? You're hopeless!"

"No I'm not! I know more things than you!"

"Really?" Fate asked, acting surprised to think Chrono was mindless.

"Yes!" Chrono answered back.

"Whatever. We're talking about girl stuff, and I don't think you'll want to listen." Fate said calmly.

"Why not?" Chrono asked confusingly.

Fate closed up to Chrono and whispered, "We're talking about puberty here. Wanna listen?" Chrono immediately blushed; now he know that that was the girl stuff they are talking about. He immediately left the table and went over to his guy friends at one corner, Fate and I weren't his only friends, you know.

Fate smiled at me, who, in turn replied in a whisper with the same deep shade of red, "Are we really going to talk about puberty?" Fate giggled and said, "Of course not! I just wanted to make sure Chrono doesn't hear any of the things I'm about to tell you, although he will know later." "What are you talking about?" I urged her, curious to know.

"I'm talking about Yuuno." Fate said softly.

"What about him?" I replied, suddenly feeling tense.

Fate giggled and said, "You like him, don't you? I can tell just by looking at what happened just now when you and Yuuno were discussing about the project. You were starring dreamily at him."

"No, I wasn't!" I protested although it was true. I mean, even if Yuuno and I really got together, we would have a hard time avoiding stares, especially from some girls who were totally crazy about her.

"Don't lie!" Fate hissed at me, I knew that sign; she's pissed off. She always does when she knows people aren't truthful to her. What can I say? That always works on me, so I decided to tell her the truth: I nodded.

"I knew it! How long had it been?" Fate asked excitedly.

"Umm… four to five years?" I answered reluctantly, I didn't want to answer her at all but my body disobeyed!

"What? That long!" Fate cried in disbelieve.

"What do you expect?" I retorted.

Fate sighed and said, "You should tell him before he gets attached to some other girls."

"What can I do?" I questioned her as I gazed at Yuuno, who was surrounded with two guy friends and the rest were all girls. "I can't exactly go up to him and said 'Yuuno, I like you since grade three', right?"

Fate smirked and I looked at her with frightened eyes, "No, Fate! You can't do this!" I cried as Fate pulled me towards Yuuno. "You have to do it sooner or later, Nanoha!" Fate reasoned. "I'll do it later!" I winced.

"All right, here's the deal," Fate let me go and said to me, "I'll give you three months to confess your feelings to Yuuno. If you still don't then, I'll tell him personal about it, come hell or high waters. Okay?" I nodded reluctantly, what could I do? I can't say 'no' to Fate, or she'll pull me to Yuuno again.

"Are we going to tell Chrono about this?" I asked.

"Yup," Fate replied, "But after school, that is. And I'm going to make him swear and agree to this three-month plan."

I smiled nervously as I noticed Fate's eyes were burning with determination. I gazed at Yuuno again. This time, Yuuno turned back to look at the clock, which was placed at the end of the class. He must have noticed I was gazing at him and he smiled at me. I blushed and smiled back. He turned back to his friends and began his previous activity. Fate saw and smiled slyly at me and I replied, "What?" "Nothing." She said innocently.

I was thrilled and I could swear my heartbeat increased when he smiled at me. Is this what people call 'love'?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End of chapter three. I was glad I did well for this chapter, and I hope you guys out there think so too. Please R&R and thanks for reading! Sorry for not adding Hayate because I only watched the last few episodes of A's yesterday and since I started on this story already, I don't want any more adding of characters. I'll probably add her and other A's characters in my next Nanoha fanfic, which I think might be a year later.


	4. Revealed

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: I hope you readers out there would enjoy this chapter! 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_Chapter 4: Revealed_**

_Nanoha's POV_

After the last bell ring, I stood up with the whole class to greet Miss Hiroka goodbye. I then flopped on my chair again, stretched and heaved a sigh of relief. The day was going, well, not bad but not good either. Who can if they were in my shoes?

Firstly, I was ultra happy when Miss Hiroka assigned me with Yuuno for the project. Secondly, I wasn't really happy with Fate "forcing" me to tell Yuuno that I like him within the next three months, how is everything going to work out? I mean, I'm just a plain Jane to Yuuno; besides, there are so many pretty, smart and kind girls in our school. My chance for becoming Yuuno's friend was already at 0.00001 percent, let alone being his _girlfriend_. Thirdly, Fate is going to tell Chrono about this! I already predicted on what Chrono will say after hearing this…

_Nanoha thinking…_

"Nanoha! You are supposed to be studying in this age. We are still to young to have girlfriends or boyfriends or any other unnecessary relationships! And…"

_Nanoha back in present…_

Yes, that would be Chrono alright. I guess I'll have to bear it a little while more. Sad, Chrono acts like my guardian or something! It's so irritating at times. Goodbye, my freedom. Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I saw girls in my class throwing death glares at me, I don't mind actually, I already expected it; they were obviously jealous about me getting pair up with Yuuno instead of them.

"Hey, Nanoha, ready to go?" A familiar voice and I looked up to the speaker. Of course, it was Fate who said it and Chrono was standing next to her. I smiled and nodded; today, we were going to Fate's place for sleepover, well, in this case, only I am since Fate's mother, Precia (A/N: Let's just treat it as Fate had a great family, okay? Her family would be mentioned later.) Testarossa wasn't keen on letting a boy sleepover with us. She just say it wasn't appropriate, so poor Chrono was "left out".

A mischievous glint shone on her eyes and it sent shivers down my spine, knowing what she would be doing later. I knew that the old shy and frightened Fate would never do this, but all that had changed within the last five years, the first time I knew Fate in elementary school… I shook my head to get the memory out of my head; I knew that I would be off to space for a long time if I really did replay those friendly scenes in my head. I then packed my bag and walked home with Chrono and Fate to get ready my stuff for the sleepover at Fate's home.

Before stepping out the class, I cast one last glance to Yuuno, who was being admired openly by girls. Yuuno saw me and flashed a handsome smile at me and I returned a smile. I turned back towards the door and walked behind Fate and Chrono, sighing along the way; if Yuuno really like me, that would be so fantastic, I will simply be the happiest person on earth. But that was just a wishful thinking; Yuuno had a great number of girls to choose from, why would he choose me?

I decided not to prompt any further, knowing I will fall into depression if I did continue to think about Yuuno and the 'whys' and 'what ifs'. I fastened my pace to walk next to Fate and joined them in their conversation. When we reached my house, I invited them in to wait while I get my things. We went inside and I ran to my room, scurrying any necessities for Fate's sleepover. I didn't like my friends to wait because it was sort of rude; just think about it, if people are waiting, and you're taking your own sweet time, wouldn't people think you are being inconsiderate or something?

Anyway, I grabbed a few things and threw them into my bag. I had already prepared my bag the night before to avoid being disorganized although I left out some things. I rushed to the living room, where Fate and Chrono were waiting. "I'm ready! We can go now!" I said as I approached my friends and we walked to Fate's house, which was really quite a short distance.

When we reached Fate's house, the gates opened for us. Actually, it looked more like a mansion than a house. But Fate was modest and said that this was nothing and she saw people with bigger houses. Although she did say that, it doesn't stop the fact that she is indeed rich. But nonetheless, it was still a home (A/N: Home and house have completely meanings so don't be confused.)

"Linith! I'm back! Chrono and Nanoha came too!" Fate shouted aloud. Suddenly, a young grey hair woman (A/N: In the anime, grey is her real hair colour. It seems that she only appeared in A's.) who seemed to be in her twenties, and was wearing a black dress with a white apron in front of her; a typical servant clothing, rushed down to the door and greeted, "Fate-sama, Nanoha-san, Chrono-san! Welcome!" "Good evening, Linith!" Chrono and I greeted her in unison. "Would you mind bringing some snacks and drinks to my room, Linith?" Fate asked and Linith shook her head and said in her scolding voice, "No, Fate-sama. Precia-sama instructed me not to give you any snacks before dinner! But for the drinks, I can bring that!"

"Fate, you are back?" A gentle and feminine voice asked and we looked up to see Precia-san. "Good evening, Precia-san." Chrono and I greeted in unison again. We decided to call her san because we didn't want to be rude, although she did allow us to use her first name. "Mother!" Fate went over and bowed down; it was a form of practice Fate and her sister, Alicia, had adopted, it showed a form of respect and they sisters always did it when they are home. "It seems like your friends are home," Precia-san nodded towards us and continued, "I shall cook dinner tonight, of course, Linith shall help me. Linith!" She called and the lady rushed down and as Precia-san walked towards the kitchen, she turned back and said, "Have fun today, Chrono-kun, Nanoha-chan." And she continued walking to kitchen.

Fate brought us up to her room and went we opened the door, a red puppy came to Fate and greeted her by wagging her tail. Fate smiled and took her in her arms and said, "I'm back! Arf." Then she put her down on the floor again and it begin to roam all around the room, looking for something interesting to do. We went beside the bed and while Fate was turning on the television, somebody knocked on the door. Fate opened the door to find that it was Linith, who had brought them drinks. We thanked her and continued to watch the television on the couch. As the television programme went into commercial break, I saw Fate looking at me with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Hey, Chrono, actually, Nanoha and I have something to tell you." Fate started the conversation. Chrono turned his head to Fate, then to me with a confusing look.

"It's nothing, really." I flashed Fate a I'm-killing-you-if-you-tell-him look, but was simply ignored.

"Come on, Nanoha! Don't be shy, it's very normal." Fate teased me and giggled slightly.

"Okay, I'm really confused. What are you girls talking about? What is normal and what do you have to tell me." Chrono said irritably and gave us confused glance.

"Well, Nanoha had a crush on Yuuno!" Fate burst out. It took me a while to register what she just said. I knew she would say it somehow, but I didn't expect her to burst out everything she knew. I saw Chrono looking dazed, like he had suddenly flown to Mars with an unknown type of transportation.

"Nanoha…had…a…crush…on…YUUNO!?" Chrono said slowly and shouted Yuuno's name loudly. I blushed and Fate scoffed, "Isn't this normal? I mean, since we are early teens already, we should already have a crush, not that I'm saying it's not normal if you don't have one," Fate said but quickly added the last statement to make Chrono feel less offended. I don't blame her, although Chrono was popular in school too, he wasn't and doesn't look like the type of boy who just simply get any girl to be his girlfriend. Besides, I'm guessing that he doesn't even a crush.

"But…" Chrono stammered and said firmly, "But we are still young, we should concentrate on our studies and not think about unnecessary relationships!" Ahh, just what I expected and thought this morning.

"But you should at least have a crush!" Fate blurted out, then eyeing him suspiciously, she taunted, "Or are you gay?" Chrono nearly screamed, causing Fate and I to laugh. Fate said in between laughers, "Calm down, Chrono!" Fate tried to suppress her laughter, "I was just joking!" Chrono sighed, relieved that we were just joking.

"Anyway, why are you telling me this for?" Chrono said suspiciously. Fate didn't notice his suspicion and said, "Well, we need your help or suggestions for Nanoha to talk to Yuuno, although that's just a start." "I have no idea at all!" Chrono said quickly, but his quickness caused Fate to glare at him and said firmly at him, "Chrono, Nanoha is your friend! But instead of helping her, you are oblivious to her could-be lifelong happiness!" I laughed softly and nervously, "Fate, isn't that too serious?" Fate cast me a glare and said, "Nanoha, you have no idea! For all you know, Yuuno might just be your guy! If you give him up so easily, you won't feel good, right? And you do like Yuuno!"

I kept quiet while Chrono thought long and hard about tips with boys since he was a boy himself. Fate said that I won't have to do anything so I just watched the television. I knew Fate was giving Chrono a hard time, pressing him for more and more tips. I sighed; Fate was taking this way too seriously. I was just thinking, since she wants me to get Yuuno, a guy who I truly loved with my own heart, she should be trying getting her own guy instead of obsessing about helping me, although I was grateful.

Wait, Fate must have a crush! But who? And was I even sure of it? Well, I shall ask her at bedtime, and hopefully, she'll reveal the person to me, but I knew that it would take a lot to convince her, and I'm not even sure if that "a lot" would be enough. For all I know, she might not reveal it even if the whole galaxy was offered to her.

"Fate-sama, Nanoha-san, Chrono-san! Dinner's ready!" Linith voice rang from the first floor to the second floor where Fate's room was. "Okay!" Fate called back and said to us cheerfully, "Let's go for dinner!" With that, she ran down to the dining room and Chrono and I followed her slowly.

"Fate is killing me!" I heard Chrono's constant sighing and complaint, but he said it softly to avoid quarrel with Fate again. I giggled a bit; Fate is giving Chrono way too much stress.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow, that was the longest chapter yet! In this story, Alicia is Fate's elder sister, but I'll mention her at the next chapter. I have nothing to say here so see you till next chapter! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Thank you for reading and please R&R! **I realized from the stories stats, there are quite a lot of people reading but not reviewing. I would deeply appreciate if you review so as to give me comments to improve the storyline or anything.**


	5. Restricted Feelings

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Thank you for those who reviewed previously! Here is chapter five! Hope you will enjoy this chapter!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Chapter 5: Restricted Feelings**_

_Chrono's POV (In his room)_

Today was such a miserable day! When Nanoha and I went to Fate's house, I came to know about that Nanoha likes Yuuno. Who wouldn't? I mean, Yuuno is cute, smart and has great charm and charisma; it's only natural for her to like such a boy. But Fate was so evil! She kept pressing me for tips on how to approach a boy and all those stuff. Opening the window, I fell onto my bed and closed my eyes, inhaling and exhaling fresh air, taking a medium-sized teddy bear and embrace it. Although I knew that I was too old for teddy bears, but that teddy bear was given to me by Nanoha on my tenth birthday. It has too many sentimental memories to throw away…

_Flashback (Narrator's POV. Four years ago.)_

It was Chrono's birthday and his family, including his friends, was at his apartment, celebrating his tenth birthday. His mother, Lindy had bake a birthday cake for Chrono herself and the guests awed at the three layered cake, each layer a different colour and flavor; the first layer was dark brown and it has a rich chocolate taste, the second layer was reddish-pink and a sweet strawberry flavor was mixed with it, and the third and last layer was of cream colour, a rich butter and vanilla taste mingled with it. On the top, red strawberries on thick cream outlined the circular top of the cake, in the center, there were chocolate, strawberry and vanilla wordings that spelled "Happy Birthday, Chrono", which word with each distinctive flavor of cream. As for the side dishes, there were delicious fruit parfraits, chocolate casket with fruits filling and other yummy treats.

Before the cutting of the cake begin, friends and family members came forward to Chrono and handed him their birthday presents, wishing him happy birthday. Yuuno and Fate had come too; Yuuno had been invited too because Nanoha pleaded him to, although at that time, he had no idea why she was so anxious about it. Fate came over and handed Chrono his birthday present; a new handphone of the latest model. Chrono gasped and his mouth hung wide open; it was very expensive and it was to be released next month. But obviously, Fate must have pull strings to buy it for him. Chrono then came over and gave him a new Xbox (A/N: Copyrighted and not mine) game called Destroyers' Hell (A/N: I just gave it some lame name); Chrono had wanted that in months and he thanked Yuuno for the wonderful present.

As he saw the pile of presents piling up, he assumed that most of the guests had already gave him his presents. But he didn't forget one person – Nanoha. Chrono scanned around the room, searching for Nanoha. Assuming that Nanoha wasn't there yet, he looked at the door, wishing that she would arrive soon.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang abruptly and a lot of times. Lindy was walking to open the door but Chrono rushed ahead of his mother. Chrono opened the door quickly and looked at the person he expected.

"Nanoha!" Chrono cried in surprise.

"Sorry I came so late, Chrono," Nanoha apologized, "I just have to get you this but it was sold out at that shop we saw it at last time. I had to go to all the other shops to find it for you." Nanoha took out a brown medium-sized teddy bear with a red bow tied around its neck from her backpack and handed it to Chrono. "Happy birthday!" Nanoha said cheerfully.

Chrono was speechless; the bear that Nanoha had just given him was what he wanted so badly. It was when Fate, Nanoha and him went shopping, Chrono had took a liking to the bear and wanted to buy it, unfortunately, they had no money then so they have to leave it. But now, Nanoha had just given him one, and better still, she had gone to many stores just to get it.

Chrono took the teddy bear and embrace Nanoha, shocking her a bit, but she relaxed in his grip later on. When they separated, Chrono smiled and said, "Thank you, Nanoha." Nanoha nodded and smiled cheerfully at him.

"Chrono! It's almost time for the cake-cutting!" Lindy called Chrono over the noise in the room. Chrono turned and replied, "Okay!" Turning back to Nanoha, he said, "Come on, Nanoha! I saved you some food. You came way too late." Nanoha smiled and said, "Okay."

_End of flashback. (Back to Chrono's POV in present.)_

At that time, I was touched at Nanoha's commitment to get this teddy bear for me. To her, I would always be a best friend to her, but to me, she would always be very someone very special. That's why, I wouldn't want to hurt her with my feelings. If I told her that I like her and she doesn't like me in return, she would feel very guilty, that's her nature. So the best thing to do right now, is to keep my feelings under wraps, for as long as I am able to.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Main thing about this chapter is to show that how Chrono came to like Nanoha more than a friend. Also, it is to show that Chrono really likes Nanoha. Thank you reading and please R&R! I hope you enjoyed it!


	6. Preparations

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Sorry for not updating for such a long time. Thank you for those of you who previously reviewed my story. Here's chapter six. Hope you'll enjoy it!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Chapter 6: Preparations**_

_Nanoha's POV_

"Wakey wakey, Nanoha!" I heard a voice called in an impatient tone. I opened my eyes and saw that it was Fate. Groaning, I struggled to get, and Fate quickly drew the curtains that has been blocking the sunbeams. I gasped and closed my eyes again. Then slowly opening them and adjusted to the newly lighted room.

I came to Fate's house yesterday and sleepover. It was fun yesterday night, doing what girls would do best; having facials, doing make up for each other, searching around Fate's wardrobe to dress each other up and of course, watching a movie called Princess Dairies (A/N: Not mine and it's copyrighted). We had stayed up until two in the morning and I was clearly surprised at Fate waking up at this time, which is only ten o'clock; normally, Fate would sleep until twelve noon.

"Why are you waking up earlier than expected?" I questioned.

"Early? It's way past nine!" Fate faced me and practically screamed in my ears.

"But can't you wake me up at eleven? I mean, we stayed up until very late last night, and I'm still sleepy now," I complained.

"No time to lose now, missy," Fate said, turning away from me and walked towards her wardrobe. Taking an article of clothing from her wardrobe and inspecting it, Fate shook her head and threw it on the floor. I looked at her in amazement as the pile of clothes strewn on the floor started to pile up. I sighed and shook my head as I stood up from the floor; Fate and I always sleep on the floor whenever I slept over; Fate said that it has a more 'adventure' feelings, which I always failed to understand. On the previous night, we had hunt high and low for covers, pillows and soft toys with the help of Precia-san and Linith.

I rubbed my eyes and walked to the bathroom for washing up. "Fate, I'm going to wash up in her bathroom," I announced with a yawn. Fate immediately stopped me and said, "Just wait a while. Please, Nanoha?" She looked at me with puppy eyes, freaking me out a bit and I nodded against my will. She smiled and started her scan on her clothes once again. I went to her desk and switched on her computer and played The Sims (A/N: Not mine and is copyrighted).

"Ah-ha! I found it!" Fate shouted joyfully, frightening me a bit with her sudden outburst. I placed a hand on her chest and heaved a sigh of relief as I saw her holding up a gorgeous overall dress, even I gasped at the sight of the dress.

It was pure white with sleeves to the length of the elbow. Ruffles formed the line of the v-neck line and the dress descended a little above the knees. A tight and adjustable belt was accompanied with the dress and it hugged around the waistline just perfectly.

"Wow," I whispered, the bracing myself, I asked, "Where are you going, Fate? Do you have some formal reception to attend?"

"What are you talking about?" Fate said ridiculously, "It's for you to wear it!"

"Where am I going?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Well, while you were asleep, I had already woke up," Fate explained, and I nodded to every detail she was talking about. "Then I heard your handphone rang to the tune when you would receive messages. Since you were asleep, I decided to read it. Then I saw that it was from Yuuno…" "YUNNO!" I shouted in amazement. Why in the world would Yuuno message me for?

"Calm down, Nanoha," As if reading my mind, Fate cleared her throat once again and continued, "As I was saying, Yuuno messaged you to find out if you were free this afternoon. He wanted to work on the project with you. So since you were asleep, and I was so sure you would agree, I replied him and said that you were free."

"You what?" I said angrily to her. How dare she replied his message without my approval! It was outrageous!

"I thought you would agree. So I thought I might as well reply," Fate explained, backing away from me as she saw that I was furious and ready to kill her, of course I wouldn't do that.

"That's not the point, Fate," I answered, "The point is you are replying my messages without my approval! Besides, you should have just read the message and when I wake up, you could tell me about it!" I saw Fate turning into a deep crimson, embarrassment was written all over her face as she said softly, "Sorry,"

"So it's that the outfit I'm supposed to wear to meet Yuuno?" I said, and as she faced me, I smiled at her. Knowing that I had forgiven her, she flashed a wide genuine smile and nodded vigorously. I took the dress from her and headed for the bathroom for a bath and to wash up. I now knew why Fate was taking so much trouble to search for a perfect outfit for me; she wanted me to dress nicely to impress Yuuno. I blushed as I thought of what Yuuno might say to me once he sees me in this perfect overall. Deep down inside me, I, too, wanted to impress Yuuno, and I was especially happy when I heard Yuuno messaged me, even though Fate replied in agreement without my approval.

I placed my undergarments and the dress that Fate had just lent me on a rack, and then took out a well-folded towel from a pile of similar well-kept and clean towels laying on a compartment of a metal rack. Fate's toilet was as amazing as her house; it was three quarters of her room and had a peach and creamy colour as the layout colour on the walls. It was very organized; towels, folded and clean, laid on compartments of the racks, facial washes organized according to brands, facial packs hung on the walls, a basket for putting dirty and soiled clothes, and other organizing method of arranging items.

I undressed myself and stepped inside the bathtub and turned on the silver tap. Within seconds, warm water sprayed on my body with a huge impact, beating lightly on my skin and wetting my hair, the feeling was so good that I smiled; the power shower was one of my favourite things in Fate's house. Turning off the tap, the water stopped as beats of water droplets fell from my wet hair. I took Fate's vanilla-scented hair and body wash and lightly squeezed the contents of it onto my hand, then spread it all over my body and my hair. After that, I rotated the tap anti-clockwise and the strong beats of water came out from the shower again.

When I was thoroughly cleansed, I stepped out of the shower, dried myself from the droplets of water with the 100 percent cotton towel, and wore my undergarments and the new dress. I stopped to look at my reflection at the full-length mirror at a corner of the bathroom. Deciding Fate would be satisfied with my appearance, I went out of the bathroom.

To my surprise, Fate was in front of the bathroom when I opened the door. Or did she stood there the whole time? Fate stared back at me with sparkles in her eyes, praising me, "You look absolutely fine, Nanoha!" Then inspecting me closer, she narrowed her eyes and said, "You didn't use the blueberry face mask on the counter, did you?" I gave a confused look and she sighed, "I thought you would notice it. I placed it there just for you. But I didn't dare tell you later on because I saw how angry you were," "Umm…Fate?" I said uncertainly as I saw the disappointed look on her face; it was always a mystery to me how Fate could tell what type of toilet articles I used, but I never solved it as Fate said that she was born like that.

Suddenly, Fate's face brightened up with eyes of determination, seriousness and happiness, she took my hand and led me to the bathroom once again. She took a bottle of facial wash and handed it to me. "This facial wash would give you the same glow as the blueberry mask would," Fate explained, "Use it," I sighed; knowing Fate, she would never let me go unless I obeyed her. Reluctantly, I took it, squeezing the substance onto my hand and massaged my face with it, lastly, splash the water from the running tap onto my face to wash off any excess residue. Fate smiled and brightened, "Look! You are glowing!" "Thank you, Fate," I thanked and blushed from her compliment. We went out to Fate's room. As I sat on her dressing table and brushed my hair. Taking my pink ribbons to tie my hair, Fate stopped me and said, "You look nicer with your hair untied, so leave it that way," I nodded and abandoned the thought of tying my hair.

"What time did Yuuno want me to meet me and where?" I asked with the sudden thought in my head.

"No idea," Fate said, "But I'm sure he'll message you again." Just at that moment, the handphone sounded into the tune when messages were received. I took the handphone on the computer desk and flipped open my phone. 'One new message received', the phone read.

_Let's meet Midoriya for lunch; I know their food is delicious. Let's meet at twelve thirty. See you then. From Yuuno._

I replied 'okay' by pressing a few keys on my phone. "Message sent," I said as I pressed for send. "Shall we go now?" Fate said.

"But it's still early. It's only eleven thirty now," I pointed out. Keeping the smile on her face, Fate said, "We're going to your house to put your stuff. Then we can hang out there until twelve fifteen. My chauffeur can drive us to your house after breakfast, then I'll drop you at Midoriya on my way home later." I was opening my mouth to refuse her kind help but she stopped me, "I know Midoriya is near your house, but it's on the way," I nodded and thanked her gratefully.

"Let's go down for breakfast then!" Fate announced as she grabbed my hand and we headed down to the hall for breakfast happily.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yay! Nanoha is meeting Yuuno! Next chapter would be very exciting, so stay tune! Anyway, please review and thanks for reading!


	7. Meeting

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: This chapter would have hints of Nanoha and Yuuno. I also appreciate reviewers for last chapter! Thank you so much! Arigatou gozaimasu! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter! I might also used simple addressing of characters like 'onne-chan' and 'onii-chan' so I hope you understand it. if you don't, review me and I'll replace this chapter with another one that have the translations.

Note: I also made some mistakes about the timing in chapter 6 for the last bit. The time Nanoha is meeting with Yuuno is supposed to be twelve thirty, not twelve noon. If you want, please read the last bit to clear confusion of time.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Chapter 7: Meeting**_

_Nanoha's POV_

As Fate and I went to the dining table to have our breakfast, I decided to choose just a few pieces of cookies and a cup of milk.

"Why are you eating so little?" Fate asked curiously.

"Yuuno wants to meet at Midoriya at twelve thirty. I was thinking that if I eat too much now, I wouldn't have much appetite for lunch with him," I reasoned.

"Good choice," Fate smiled and continued with her piece of chocolate fudge cake. After munching the remaining bits of the cake, Fate drunk her cup of milk and left the table. I followed her up to the room and took my bag while Fate changed from her pyjamas into a casual dress code of a black skirt and a pink sleeveless top.

"Are you ready to go?" Fate asked me when she came out of the toilet. I nodded and we headed outside the big house to where Fate's chauffeur, Mr. Jeff, was; outside the house with the sleek black limousine and the door opened for her, Fate always like to travel in style whenever she is able to. Mr. Jeff was wearing a black suit like he always do, his brown eyes gave a kind shine and his features were charming enough to make ladies fall head over heels for him. Fate and I thanked Mr. Jeff as we entered the luxurious black car with my bag at the empty seat beside me.

"Would you like to have something to drive?" Fate asked, as she took out a small bottle of sparkling apple juice from the mini-fridge standing at the empty compartment behind our seat.

"It's okay," I replied.

"You are really too formal, aren't you?" Fate sighed and unscrewed the plastic cap from the bottle she was holding. I said nothing and merely looked out of the window, looking at the nature green that was so soothing to the soul. I knew that what Fate had said was very true; even by the years that our friendship had been going on, I had always been formal to everyone in the Testarossa household. Never, had I once took something from the house without asking politely, even though this wasn't required of me. Even to Fate, I was always polite, and in I knew that in everyone's eyes, I was always a little angel. Sometimes, I really want to be tough, but it's my nature that I'm kind, if I said so myself.

As my mind was filled with thoughts, I was surprised when the vehicle halted. I looked outside and saw that we had arrived to my house. Mr. Jeff came out of the car and opened the door for Fate and me. We went out of the car and I took along my belongings.

"Fate-san, what time should I be here to pick you up?" Mr. Jeff asked formally in his kind voice.

"At twelve fifteen." Fate answered, and her loyal chauffeur bowed his head, meaning that he understands her request. He then went inside the car and before driving away, Mr. Jeff lowered the car window and said, "Have fun, Fate-san." Fate smiled and waved at him. I knew that Mr. Jeff holds Fate in high regards because she was very kind and friendly; she was often a friend more than a chauffeur to Mr. Jeff.

Fate and I went inside the house and into my room. I placed my belongings on the floor beside my desk and took out the used clothes, dumping them into the laundry. I knew the house was empty because it was very silent; my sister, brother, mother and father had gone to Midoriya to help out since it was Saturday, meaning a very busy day for them. After returning to my room from the laundry room, I saw that Fate was scanning through my research that I had done in advance for the project on the computer.

"Wow. You sure are hardworking." Fate marveled at the amount of information I had gathered and were beginning to scroll further down to look through them.

"I must. And you should too," I said sternly, "You were supposed to do the project with Chrono but so far, I see that both of you aren't talking about schoolwork at all."

"We have our ways." Fate said slyly with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

"You mean _Chrono's_ way." I said dejectedly, bouncing and lying down on my soft bed. "Are you pushing everything to Chrono again? You should do something once in a while."

"I am doing something," I heard Fate protested as I closed my eyes momentarily for a short break for my eyes. "For your information, Chrono doesn't even allow me to slack. I hate Miss Hiroka for pairing me up with Chrono." Fate scoffed.

"What about your previous partners?"

"Well," Fate said slowly and I saw her dreamily staring into space when I opened my eyes. "All of them always help me do the work."

"That figures." I rolled my eyes.

"No doubt about that. Because all my previous partners were boys, they always fall under the Testarossa charm." Fate said proudly.

"But I really wonder how your grades are achieved," I asked, facing her. "Projects only cover a small percentage of the total overall score but you always maintained or better your position, which is currently the third position in class. Third out of forty students!" I marveled as I thought about it.

"I don't rely on others for my grade." Fate said, feeling offended by the tone of her voice. "Besides, not that I'm bragging or anything, but I'm smart in a way or two. You are not that bad yourself. You're just a position after me."

I smiled at her try for comforting me. when it comes to result, I'm very particular, and it certainly doesn't please me to find myself under the thumb of my best friend, Fate Testarossa, regardless of academically or socially. But nonetheless, Fate was still my very best friend.

"What's wrong? You seemed to space out a moment there." Fate asked and I immediately snapped out of my thoughts.

"Nothing." I lied. Suddenly, I heard Fate's handphone ringing. Fate retrieved the little electronic from a pocket of her skirt and answered it. "Hello, this is Fate Testarossa." Fate said politely to whoever was on the other line of the phone. I saw Fate mumbled a bit and nodding a little. Then she snapped her phone closed and said, "Jeff is waiting for us below already." "So fast?" I asked with disbelief as I lifted up the curtain a bit and looked outside. No doubt, I saw Mr. Jeff outside, leaning against the car, waiting for Fate and me.

Fate took my hand and said, "Have you ever heard of a saying called 'time flies'?" As Fate dragged my unwilling body outside the house, I protested; I was very anxious for the meeting with Yuuno. What if everything comes out the way I did not expected? What if I tripped and fall in front of Yuuno? That would be so embarrassing. When I told Fate about my doubts, she looked at me disbelievingly and scolded, "Nanoha, do you want to meet up with Yuuno or not?" I nodded timidly. "Then stop worrying about it. I'm sure everything will go just fine." Fate smiled as she comforted me with her words.

We entered Fate's sleek black car and Mr. Jeff was told to drop me off at Midoriya by Fate. As he drove and as Midoriya became nearer and nearer, I became more anxious. Nonetheless, I received moral support of Fate.

"Here we are. Don't worry, Nanoha. I'm gurantee that everything would come out just fine." Fate told me as I went out of the car. I smiled and thanked her gratefully, waving at her as her car drove away. I stood at the side of the door of Midoriya.

"Hey, Nanoha! What are you doing here?" I turned to the feminine voice and saw that it was my sister.

"Hello onee-chan. I'm meeting my friend here." I replied and smiled.

"Is it your boyfriend?" I heard say slyly.

"Of course not! Who told you?" I blushed and forced my words out.

"Fate called a bit earlier and said that you were meeting with a boy. She told us to prepare nicer cakes for you two." My sister said with a surprised expression. "I thought it might be someone important to you so mother already made two super extra special cakes."

"True that I'm meeting a boy but it's for a school project." I protested.

"Tell me the truth," My sister said sternly, surprising me with her tone. "Is he you crush?" She stared at me so hard that I was so afraid that she would eat me up if I lied, so I just nodded. I saw her smiling and said, "Don't worry, Nanoha. You secret is safe with me. Good luck. I really need to go in and help out. Today is very busy, you know?" My sister flashed me a smile before returning to the store. I sighed as my ordeal with my sister was over. Fate is going to meet her wrath if I ever see her.

"Hey, Nanoha." A familiar voice greeted. I turned around and flushed a deep red as I saw who was that: Yuuno Scrya! "Did you wait long?" I shook my head and the two of us went into Midoriya, talking casually. We settled at a table beside the window as the view outside was amazing; red and orange leaves falling from the trees and fluttering down onto the earth.

"The food here is really delicious!" Yuuno said excitedly.

"I know," I replied, nodding my head. "My mother makes the best cakes."

"You mean," Yuuno said slowly. "This shop belongs to your parents." I nodded and saw Yuuno was green with envy, "I'll be so happy if I get to eat such heavenly cakes everyday."

"I know. But if you really eat them everyday, you get bored of them." I said as I remember my experience when I was little. I used to eat so many cakes in a day but got tired of them later on.

"Here you go, Nanoha." I saw my sister serving us the cakes my mother made especially for me. I marveled the design of the cake and the taste was so heavenly when I chewed it in my mouth. Yuuno was almost crying with happiness as he ate the delectable cake. As we ate, my sister brought us two cups of iced vanilla latte with whipped cream on top. After the wonderful meal, Yuuno and I sat at our seats a little longer, deciding whose house we should go to. In the end, we had decided to come to my house since I gathered much information on my computer and Yuuno had brought along his research too.

"I warn you, Yuuno." I said with a dark look on my face. "My room is really messy."

"It's okay, Nanoha. If you had come into my room, you'll be more freaked out." Yuuno reassured me. Seeing that he was carrying a backpack and holding a plastic bag filled with his research, I offered to help him carry his plastic bag. He thanked me and the two of us talked happily as we walked on the route to my house.

As we talked, I noticed the amount of happiness that Yuuno was able to emit through me. His smile was so contagious that I couldn't help but smile along with him. Although I'm not really certain, but there was a few moments that I saw him looking at me intently, to which I intentionally ignored, thinking that it was just my imagination.

_Narrator POV_

Meanwhile, two unknown characters followed the pair closely behind…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who are the two unknown people? Guess! Hint is that they are not kidnappers or anyone bad. It's going to be full YuunoNanoha in the next chapter! With some FateChrono, of course. Do you enjoy this chapter? I hope you do! Thank you for reading and please review!


	8. Teddy Bear

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Sorry for not updating earlier. Anyway, to all reviewers for the previous chapter, you are all totally correct! It's Fate and Chrono! Hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_Chapter 8: Teddy Bear_**

"Why are we even doing this?" A black hair boy complained with a sigh of distress. He was dressed in a black shirt, a pair of long black pants, and a black sleeveless coat. His dark shades were hiding his eyes and the complete outfit invited stares. "And also, what's up with this outfit? It's ridiculous and in case you haven't notice, people are staring at us." The boy complained further.

"Shut up, Chrono!" A yellow hair girl hissed at him. "If you talk anymore and any louder, we'll get discovered. And besides, let the people stare at us if they want to; it's none of my concern. And let me assure you, you won't be recognized and that's the most important thing. This is the perfect disguise." Like her friend, the girl was also wearing a similar coat over a pink skirt and a white top, and also a pair of similar shades.

"But, Fate, aren't we too extreme?" Chrono reasoned. "There's no reason to follow Nanoha on a so-call date. It's just some meeting for the school project."

"You don't know, Chrono." Fate said, rolling her eyes. "There may be special times and I need to witness this myself, and to tape them." Fate smiled and held out her video camera. "Because I'm sure Nanoha would never tell me if there is."

"And what if there isn't?"

"Then at least we'll see them all lovey-dovey together." Fate countered with a dreamy look and Chrono muttered, "Whatever."

Back to Nanoha and Yuuno

"And then…" Nanoha said as they reached the road. It was red light for the pedestrian crossing but Nanoha didn't notice it. Besides, there weren't any vehicles rushing past (it was quite a quiet town) and she had thought that they stopped because of the traffic light. Just then, a car was charging straight to Nanoha.

"Nanoha!" Yuuno shouted her name as he went forward and took her arm, pulling her backward. Luckily, the lady in car didn't notice this, and it was well that she didn't, because like most drivers, they would usually use cursing language on the pedestrian. Nanoha, who had just let the previous events sink in, looked shock. Yuuno was catching his breath and Nanoha said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, Yuuno. I didn't notice the car and –" Then Yuuno stopped panting and glared angrily at Nanoha, shocking her a bit.

"YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED OUT THERE, YOU KNOW!" Yuuno shouted at Nanoha, inviting stares from passers-by. Without noticing that tears had already fell from her eyes, Nanoha apologized profusely. "I'm so sorry! I really am!" Nanoha repeated and Yuuno's expression softened, and a hint of remorse crawled up on his face.

"I'm sorry I shouted too. I was just so worried about you then, Nanoha." Yuuno said, offering her a piece of tissue. Nanoha looked up and accepted the tissue, drying her tears with it, then smiled weakly at Yuuno. "Come on, let's get out of here. People are already starring at us." Nanoha teased and the two hurried on their way. As they passed by those who had witness the scene, they heard mumbles like, "What happened?", "Uncivilized people nowadays fight in public" and lastly – the one, which made the friends, blushed – "Good for them! I can see that the young couple had gotten over their fight." Throughout the remaining journey to Nanoha's house, the two friends had stayed quiet and the intensity of the atmosphere increased.

"We're here." Nanoha announced as they stopped in front of the Takamachi residence. They took off their shoes and Nanoha unlocked the door with her keys, gesturing Yuuno to go inside. "What would you like to drink?" Nanoha asked, deciding to be a good host. "Anything will do." Yuuno smiled at her and Nanoha retreated to the kitchen, getting a glass of orange juice for Yuuno while he looked around her house. When Nanoha entered the kitchen, she blushed a deep crimson red and thought, _Oh my gosh! I'm so nervous! Calm down, Nanoha!_ Finally, with a huge effort, she suppressed her excitement with the thought of Yuuno. She took a glass from the cupboard and a carton of orange juice from the fridge, pouring the contents into the glass. She went back to Yuuno and handed the glass of juice to him, accepting his thanks.

"Come to my room." Nanoha said. "There's not much reference in my living room." Yuuno nodded and followed her to her room, and he was amazed and shocked at her room. "It's messy, eh?" Nanoha said and blushed a bit, embarrassed for the messy room; a few pieces of clothes had been flung onto the floor, books piled up on her desk in collapsing stacks and a few were strewn on the floor. Nanoha bent down and took up her clothes, smoothening them and placed them in the drawer after folding them.

"If you call this messy, you would call my room and chaos. My room seemed like it has gone through a hurricane!" Yuuno said and Nanoha giggled at his exaggerating as she continued to clear the little mess in her room. After the room was cleaned, files and information all gathered, Nanoha and Yuuno went to work on their presentation on the computer. There were cases of aggressive discussions and the two was forced to compile their ideas with much difficulty. Finally, after 5 hours of nonstop work, all the requirements needed for the project was completed. Nanoha leaned against her chair and Yuuno laid on the bed, both heaving a grateful sigh of relief, glad that the work was done. Then, Yuuno rise from the bed and Nanoha turned to him, both smiling to each other, eyes locking into each other's for a while. When Nanoha noticed this, she turned away with a crimson blush on her cheeks and said, "It's quite late, isn't it? Want to have dinner now? It is seven."

"Sure. Where shall we eat?" Yuuno asked, not noticing that he was also blushing.

"How about I cook?" Nanoha asked excitedly and faced Yuuno.

"You cook?" Yuuno asking surprisingly and rise his eyebrow. A nod was his answer. He started to think about Home Economies class when Nanoha had been praised for her cooking, and this dismissed all of his doubts of having food poisoning – well, almost all. "Okay then." Yuuno said. After the decision was done, the two teenagers went to the living room.

"You can watch the television or play the computer or do anything that would amuse you." Nanoha said as she pointed to the respective electrical appliances. "I'll be at the kitchen."

"Are you sure you wouldn't need any help?"

"I'll manage." Nanoha said with a smile and headed to the kitchen, determined to cook something good for Yuuno, besides, like they say, good food always capture one's heart – well, not always in some cases. Yuuno, meanwhile, made himself at home by switching on the television and invading Nanoha's own photo album where all of Nanoha's photos where kept, besides, Nanoha did say he can do anything. Somehow, Yuuno realized that he was looking at the Nanoha in the photo very intently and he had no idea why.

Meanwhile, Nanoha busied herself with cooking. She had decided to cook tempura udon that night and search the whole kitchen for the ingredients. Finally, tempura batter, prawns, two packets of udon, vegetables, enoki mushrooms, a few pieces of beef, a few pieces of pink and white crab meat and a soup base. Nanoha then faced the utensils and smiled to herself.

"Nanoha, ganbate (A/N: I hope it's being spelled correctly. It means 'try your best', but I figured that would be weird, so I used the Japanese word instead)." Nanoha encouraged herself and began cooking.

_After a few moments…_

"Dinner is served!" Nanoha said excitedly as she carried a bowl to the dining table. Then retreated to the kitchen again to retrieve a second bowl and two pairs of chopsticks. Yuuno came to the table and marveled the bowl of udon and wow softly. "Help yourself." Nanoha said and smiled at him. Yuuno thanked Nanoha and sat down, taking the chopsticks and enjoyed the delectable bowl of food.

During the whole dinner, none of them spoke a word. They were not sure what to say and didn't want to embarrass themselves in front of each other. After the food was finished and the utensils in the sink were washed (with the help of Yuuno), Yuuno was prepared to go home.

"Would you like to take a walk with me?" Yuuno asked as he carried his bag; he had left the plastic bag in Nanoha's house to lighten his weight.

"A…walk?" Nanoha said softly and tried hard not to blush. "Sure." Nanoha stammered and went to her room, getting her purse and a handbag. After that, the two friends left the house and walked along the trail of shop houses. There were shops selling sweets, dolls, and other stuff one can imagine. Until now, Yuuno and Nanoha had purchase a bag of sweets and were glad because they both have a sweet tooth.

"Wow!" Nanoha said suddenly and ran a bit ahead of Yuuno. "What is it?" Yuuno asked as he is catching up to Nanoha. "Isn't it cute?" Nanoha asked and faced him, pressing a finger against the display glass. Yuuno looked through the glass and saw that it was a teddy bear. It was cute but Yuuno was only half as excited as Nanoha since he was a boy. _So girls like this kind of stuff, huh?_ Yuuno thought. "Let's go in then." Yuuno said, gaining Nanoha's nod.

When they enter the store, Nanoha smiled delightfully at the shop filled with teddy bears. She looked here and there, amazed at the cute teddy bears. Yuuno was walking casually along the shelf when he saw a light brown teddy bear with a pink ribbon tied around its neck. _I have to admit this is cute_, Yuuno thought. He knew that if he – a boy – thinks it's cute, imagine the impact it would bring if he showed it to Nanoha. He took the teddy bear in his hands and looked at it closely.

"Do you like it?" A feminine voice asked. Yuuno responded to the voice and turned to look at the caller. It was the lady in her early twenties with straight black hair, her almond eyes gave a kind look and her lips was as pink as a rose. "I like it. I think it's quite cute." Yuuno answered.

"This comes with a pair, you know?" The lady said.

"Really?"

"This is a girl. And there is another one that is a boy." The storeowner said and took a similar looking bear from the shelf. Everything about this bear was similar to the one he held in his hands except the colour of the ribbon around the neck; it was blue.

"The blue ribbon represents the boy and the pink one represents the girl. They make a set and belong to each other." The storeowner continued.

"That makes sense." Yuuno mused. Somehow, deep inside him, he had an urge to purchase the two teddy bears.

"I'll buy it." Yuuno said quickly and after a few moments, he registered to what he just said but he didn't regret.

"Wise choice." The storeowner said and went to the counter, scanning the price tag and accepting the money Yuuno gave. She packed the two bears into a plain pink plastic bag and as she handed it to Yuuno, she winked at Yuuno and looked over Yuuno, saying, "You can give the pink one to your friend over there." Yuuno looked at Nanoha and thanked the storeowner quietly, blushing bright red and left with Nanoha after much persuasion.

When the two walked to some point of the road, they bided each other farewell. As Nanoha walked away, Yuuno called Nanoha's name, prompting her to stop and turn back to look at Yuuno. Yuuno went to Nanoha and took out the bear with the pink ribbon and handed it to Nanoha.

"This is for you. I bought it back in the shop," Yuuno began. "Pink isn't my colour so I decided to give you this." Yuuno lied.

"Wow, this is so cute! Are you sure you are giving it to me?"

"Yup!" Yuuno said without any hesitation and Nanoha took the bear.

"Thank you so much, Yuuno." Nanoha thanked gratefully and flashed a smile – a smile that is more peaceful and happy. Yuuno blushed as he saw Nanoha hugging her bear and most of all, her smile.

"I think I shall name it 'Hana'." Nanoha said happily.

"Since your bear has a name, then I'll name my bear 'Daichi'." Yuuno said as he took out his bear and showed it to Nanoha. The two smiled at each other and admire their bears.

With Fate and Chrono

"Oh my gosh! That was so romantic! Yuuno bought a bear for Nanoha. And it is a pair!" Fate said excitedly.

"Didn't you heard Yuuno? He said that pink wasn't his colour so he gave it to Nanoha." Chrono said annoyingly.

"He said that to avoid being awkward." Fate snapped. "Pink is more feminine and is Nanoha's. Blue is more for boys so it belongs to Yuuno. Well, you get the meaning."

"Whatever you say, Fate." Chrono said, sighing with distress.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Was that nice? I hope that was a nice moment between the two. I am mostly proud of teddy bears part. I also apologize for making the language so dull. Please review and I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading.


	9. Sister Image

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Sorry for the late update. Before proceeding to the chapter itself, I would like to clear up some confusion.

1) Fate having a totally different character.

In my story, there was something that changed Fate into a happier person but this would be entertained later in my story. If you're still not happy with the reason, then just treat Fate as an AU character.

2) The story sounding more and more like Cardcaptor Sakura

There were two reviewers who said that the story is sounding more like CCS, and heck, I don't even have any idea. There are some theories which I think are the factors that made my story sound like CCS, so let me explain.

_i) The teddy bears_

This was a 'must'. Do you expect me to put dolls instead? Yuuno's a guy for heaven's sake! Besides, charms might be a bit too corny and expected.

_ii) Fate sounding obsessed in Nanoha's love life_

Fate is Nanoha's super best friend and it natural for her to care about Nanoha. This chapter itself will show why Fate is so – too – concern about Nanoha.

These are all my theories though. If you have anymore questions, please give review and don't PM! I like reviews better. Heehee…

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

Here is chapter 9 so I hope you'll enjoy it! Excuse my dull language. I apologized for using full italics at first but...you'll get the point when you read.

EDITED ONCE AGAIN!

* * *

**_Chapter 9: Sister Image_**

_An orange hair girl stood in the darkness. Her eyes were gentle, hair tied up with sky blue ribbons. In fact, she resembles greatly with Alicia and me._

_Resembles?_

_I saw her coming up to me, her face trying to be angry but I knew she was kind of joyful. Suddenly, the surroundings changed into a field of lush green grass. I was standing far away from my mother, Alicia and Linith, but the girl kept had reached my side. She seemed small in size._

"_Why do you say I resemble you?" The girl scolded with mild impatience. "Shouldn't I resemble you a bit?"_

_I started to speak but no words came out._

"_Fate-chan! Erika-chan! Come over here!" I heard my mother called._

_Erika?_

"_Mother's teaching us to make flower crowns!" I saw Alicia standing up and waved at us._

"_Hai!" The two of us went over. The process of making the flower crown was simple and we made nice ones._

"_Fate-chan, I want that marigold." I saw the orange hair girl – Erika – pointed at the marigold I was holding. I hesitated, marigold was my favourite flower._

"_Fate-chan. Won't you give it to your dear sister over here?" My mother said playfully and smiled._

_Sister?_

"_Please, onee-chan?" I heard her pleading. _

"_Onee-chan! Onee-chan! Onee-chan!" Those words echo louder into my ears. Then surroundings became the similar darkness once again. Erika was the only person facing me. She was in front of me._

"_Onee-chan is so mean!" She stuck out her tongue and ran away from me._

"_Erika-chan. No! I'll give you my marigold! Come back!"_

"NOOO!" The word echo through the whole household of the Testarossas. Linith, Precia and Alicia have been awaken from the loud sound and had rushed up to Fate's room to see what had happened.

"Fate-chan, what had happened to you?" Precia said with worry when she opened the door with haste and quickly rushed to her daughter's side. Alicia followed suit and Linith did so too after switching on the lights.

"What happened, Fate-chan? Did you have a nightmare? Or a mouse appeared?" Alicia said worriedly.

"Alicia!" Precia scolded.

"Sorry." Alicia said softly and went beside her sister, wrapping her arms around her shoulder as her mother embraced her slightly.

"Are you okay?" Linith asked finally.

Fate gave a nod and said softly, "I just had a nightmare."

"It wasn't any ordinary nightmare." Alicia added seriously and all heads were turned to her. "What did you dream of?" Alicia stared hard at her.

"It was nothing." Fate said and turned her head away, clearly not wanting to tell anyone about it.

"Please tell us, Fate." Alicia said with concern, Linith and Precia looked at her with much curiosity.

"I dreamt about Erika." That was all Fate had to say for everyone to be quiet all of a sudden. Then, Precia embraced Fate tightly.

"Mother…"

"Shh, Fate-chan. It's okay." Precia assured her.

"But it's my fault Erika – "

"That's enough!" Precia said loudly, shocking the others in the room. Then, Precia let go of Fate and with a calmer voice, she said, "Go back to sleep, it's late."

Fate couldn't say anything else except to nod. When Alicia was getting ready to leave, she turned back and said, "Do you want me to stay with you for tonight?"

"It's fine, really."

"Don't be stupid!" Alicia said with slight anger and concern in her voice. She launched forward and embraced her sister. "Let me stay with you, little sister."

No matter how much Fate dislike that word, it turned out to be comforting this time.

"Thank you, onee-san." Fate said and shed a tear. Alicia knew but couldn't do anything but to embrace her tighter, giving her the comfort that she would need for this long night.

------------------------------------------------------------X--------------------------------------------------------

"Good morning, Fate! You know, yesterday, Yuuno and I – " Nanoha stopped as she saw the tiredness in Fate's face, dark circles have surfaced due to the previous night.

"What happened to you? Didn't you sleep well last night?" Nanoha asked worriedly.

"I did. But I just slept late, that's all." Fate lied, and did a perfect job at it seeing that Nanoha bought it.

As Nanoha stopped talking to Fate in hope of giving her more time to sleep, she went back to her seat and quietly read a book.

"Good morning, Nanoha, Fate." Chrono entered and greeted happily.

"Shhh." Nanoha hushed Chrono angrily, place a finger on her lips. Chrono looked over at Fate and immediately knew that Fate was sleeping. He brought his hand to his forehead to show his apology.

"Nanoha." Fate said, still in her sleeping position.

"Yes?"

"I just want you to know that I'm kind of fed up with you delaying your confession to Yuuno." Nanoha blushed and Fate continued, "I just want you to be happy, Nanoha. So promise me that you'll confess to Yuuno as soon as possible, okay? I'm sure Yuuno would feel the same way towards you too. You're such a wonderful person."

"Yes. Thank you." Nanoha stammered, suddenly surprised with her being sentimental. She went over to Chrono's desk and whispered to him, "Chrono, something is wrong with Fate today."

Chrono nodded and said, "I know, she isn't torturing me like she usually does."

"Chrono!"

"Have a sense of humor, Nanoha." Chrono joked. Nanoha's angry stare made him sigh and said, "I don't know why I should always be the one to say and do this kind of things. You're closer to her, you can tell her."

"She'll be more truthful towards you, Chrono. You're more…sentimental." Nanoha reasoned, finding a word to describe.

"Like how?" Chrono said, feigning terrified.

"Somehow. So are you going to talk to her or not?" Nanoha pressed on impatiently.

"Fine, I'll go talk to her after school." Chrono said with a defeated sigh.

Nanoha smiled and thanked Chrono happily, then returned to her seat, reading her book in peace once again.

Fate thought, _Nanoha is so much like Erika. Her hair and attitude, everything. I miss you._

_Erika Testarossa. My dear and precious sister. I miss you. I'm sorry.

* * *

_

A/N: This chapter was – in my sense – kind of difficult to complete with all the sentimental stuff. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed it!

Please review!


	10. Lost and Found

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Sorry for the late update. My computer was damaged so I couldn't update for quite some time. This chapter will have quite a lot of spelling and grammar errors as I'm using WordPad instead of Microsoft Word (somehow, it disappeared from my computer) so there would not be any automatic spelling check for me. Sigh. Nonetheless, I'll try my best to minimize mistakes.

I've decided to give shout-outs to reviewers because I fell so bad ignoring you at times:

**Dr. Rondart**: I've changed Percia to Precia and Haruka to Erika. And your PM request is done, I've changed the remaining Haruka to Erika and the mistake for Testorossa is done too. But if you see anymore mistake, please inform me, okay? Here's chapter 10 and I really hope you'll enjoy it.

**00asianwriter00**: Sorry for the late update! Here's a new chapter for you!

**seehuey**: Sorry for the late update and hope you'll like this one.

**KazeNoTsubasa**: How Fate changed into her happier self is revealed in this chapter, so I hope you'll enjoy it!

**kawaii-pal**: Well, there isn't really any start for the FatexChrono romance because every moment just pulls them closer together (I'm being dramatic, am I?). But there is going to be a confession chapter between the two but that will come much later.

**Hikori**: I'm so sorry for not PMing you when the story is updated. It often slips my mind, you see. Hopefully, you'll like this chapter!

* * *

_**Chapter 10: Lost and Found**_

"That would be all for now. Class dismissed." The teacher said and immediately, the students in the room stood up in unison and chorused goodbye to the teacher. When the teacher left, students began to pack their schoolbags with much haste and rushed out of the classroom. At this time, Nanoha and Chrono had gathered around Fate's table.

"I'm sorry I can't go home with you today, Fate," Nanoha said apologetically. "I'm having tuition today."

"It's all right. I understand." Fate replied with a smile.

"Hey, what's that big bag of yours?" Chrono suddenly asked as he pointed to the pink plastic bag Nanoha was carrying.

"It's nothing." Nanoha said quickly and place the bag behind her.

"Then I 'll see you tomorrow, Fate, Chrono! Bye!" Nanoha bid her friends goodbye as she headed for her tuition. Fate and Chrono waved back and when she was gone, Chrono said to Fate, "I need to talk to you, Fate."

"About what?" Fate looked up at Chrono.

"About - " Chrono began.

"Hey, Chrono! Can you help us here for a moment?" Yuuno called from the teacher's table. "I need to get these to the staff room but my hands are full for the moment."

"Okay. Just a second." Chrono replied. Then facing Fate, he said, "Can you wait for me at the greenhouse?" Without saying a word, Fate nodded and Chrono was off to help Yuuno with his errands.

_What does he want to talk about?_ Fate thought as she strolled to the greenhouse, curious of Chrono's sudden serious tone and face a while ago...

-------------------------------------------------------------X----------------------------------------------------

_With Nanoha... _(A/N: This whole part of Nanoha will be quite dramatic, so just bear with me or imagine or something.)

As she strolled to her tuition centre, Nanoha took peeks inside the pink plastic bag and when she lifted her face, her face was lit with all smiles. Finally, she couldn't resist anymore and took out what was in the bag: the teddy bear that Yuuno had given her the day before; she had liked it so much that she couldn't bear leaving it at home, so she took it along. She was all smiles as she admired the bear when suddenly, a middle-aged man accidentally knocked into Nanoha, prompting the teddy bear to be flung out of her hands and it flew all the way to the other side of the road (A/N: See? I told you it would be dramatic).

"Ah! My bear!" Nanoha said as she helplessly watched her bear being flung away.

"Sorry." The man said, unconcerned and went away.

Nanoha didn't wait for the man to apologize and quickly went to the crossing, waiting for the green light to light up. She also tried to catch glimpse of the teddy bear at the other side of the road but failed due to the flashing vehicles that blocked her sight. Finally, when the traffic light turned green, Nanoha rushed to the other side of the road, desperate to retrieve her teddy bear.

Unfortunately, when Nanoha did cross the road, the teddy bear was nowhere to be found.

"Strange. I could have sworn I saw the teddy bear being 'flown' here." Nanoha muttered as she was saddened by losing her most precious gift.

Then, remembering her tuition lesson, Nanoha looked at her watch and realized she was late. Immediately, she ran to the tuition center, promising herself to find the teddy bear with all costs, somehow…

-------------------------------------------------------------X--------------------------------------------------------------

"Hello, Fate." Chrono greeted as he went into the greenhouse and saw Fate sitting at the bench.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Fate said as she signaled Chrono to sit at the empty space beside her.

When Chrono settled down, he said, "Well, Nanoha and I noticed that you were very quiet today. You're not like your normal self. Did something happen?" After a few moments of silence, Chrono tried again, "You know, Fate? You can always talk to me if there is something wrong. It won't be good to carry the burden all by yourself."

"Then, will you listen to me?" Fate said softly.

"Of course." Chrono replied without any hesitation.

"Actually, it all started with my sister." Fate began.

"Alicia?"

"No, Erika."

"But I thought Alicia was your only sister." Chrono said as he became more confused.

"I've actually got two sisters, and Erika was my younger sister. But she passed away some years ago." Fate said, near to tears.

"There was once when my mother was away on a business and Alicia was away on a school trip. Like always, I would fetch Erika to and fro from school. But there was one particular morning…"

"_Onee-chan, can I skip school today? I'm not feeling well."_

"_Erika, you're always making that excuse to skip school."_

"_But I'm not lying or pretending this time. I'm really not well."_

"_Okay, how are you feeling?"_

"_I feel really tired."_

"_You stayed up late yesterday, did you?"_

"_No I didn't. Besides, my hands and feet are really cold."_

"_Probably due to the weather, it's nearing winter."_

"_It's not due to the weather, onee-chan!"_

"_Erika…"_

"_Fine! You'll still believe I'm lying about me not feeling well. Fine! Then let's go to school!"_

"I didn't believe her that she was ill. When I fetched her home from school, she fainted when we were nearing home."

"_Erika! What's wrong with you? Erika!"_

"When I took her back home, I realized that she was running a fever. You know that fevers come much later after a while. I was taking care of her all night but her fever didn't subside. But the next morning, she was feeling much better, so I left her at home while I went to school. When I came back, I saw her sitting at the couch, watching television. I thought she was fully recovered, so…

"_Let's go to the playground below, Erika."_

"_Okay."_

"_Here, Erika! Catch the ball!"_

"She took the ball very slowly, and I even complained about her. When she was reaching for the ball, she fainted. At this time, my mother was returning home. And when she saw Erika lying on the ground and me trying to wake her up, she immediately came to us…

"_Fate, what happened to Erika?"_

"_I don't know. We were playing when she suddenly fainted."_

"_Was she sick before?"_

"_She had a fever but when I came back from school, she was already well."_

"_Let's take her to the hospital. Come on, Fate."_

"When we reached the hospital, Erika's condition was worse than expected. The doctor said that her temperature was extremely high. Addition to that, she also had really severe asthma attack. The doctor told us to prepare for the worse; she might be completely all right, she might have some damage in her brain because of the high fever, or she might not survive this one." At this, Fate buried her face in her hands, tears falling relentlessly.

"I wasn't a good sister. I caused her death. If only I hadn't bring her to the playground to play, this wouldn't have happened. She would be resting and still be living now. I feel really guilty…"

"_Why did you bring Erika to play when you knew she was ill?"_

"_Mother…"_

"_You knew perfectly that she was ill, didn't you?"_

"_Mother, I…"_

_(SLAP)_

"_Mother…"_

"_Mother, Erika will be all right. She's a strong girl. Have faith in her." (A/N: This is Alicia.)_

"_Alicia."_

"_Fate, you better go home and rest a bit." (A/N: This is Alicia too.)_

"_Thank you, Alicia."_

"The next day, when my mother, Alicia and I came to visit Erika, she said something that I was very guilty of. It was as if I was blamed of her predicament. I knew Erika didn't have the intention to make me feel this way, but what she said made me feel responsible for her…"

"_Fate?"_

"_Yes, Erika?"_

"_I'm sorry I didn't pass the ball back to you properly. Sorry, Fate."_

"You know, Fate?" Chrono said after Fate ended her story. Fate's tears-stained face faced Chrono, and for once, she wasn't crying.

"You shouldn't be too depressed like that." Chrono said.

"How can I not?" Fate said angrily as she stood up, losing her patience. "Erika is my sister!"

"That's why you shouldn't too depress." Chrono repeated. "Erika is your sister, surely she wouldn't want you to be like this."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think Erika would want to see you like this? Do you think she would happy seeing you sad?" Chrono said firmly. "Listen Fate, you may have caused her death, but when you said that she was sorry for not passing you the ball properly shows that she forgives you and doesn't want you to feel guilty."

"Do you really mean that?" Fate questioned. "Do you think she forgave me?"

Chrono nodded and said, "Of course, Fate. I'm sure Erika would want you to be happy. If she sees you being so sad like this, she would be sad to. Do you want her to feel guilty too? For causing your unhappiness?"

Fate shook her head, "No."

"Then be cheerful." Chrono said, stood up and pull Fate into a friendly embrace.

"Thank you, Chrono." Fate said as her tears fell again, somewhat touched by Chrono's words. When they separated, Fate said, "All these years, nobody ever comforted me like that. You're the first one. And please don't tell Nanoha about this, I know that she'll be really sad, knowing I've lost a sister. That's her nature."

"Okay. But let me make a guess, you're very concerned about Nanoha's 'happiness' because she somehow resembles Erika, am I right?"

"How did you know?" Fate said, stunned.

"Just my guess. But you should know something too; Erika is Erika, Nanoha is Nanoha. If you replace Erika with Nanoha, it wouldn't be so nice, would it?"

"Nope, I guess not." Fate said.

For a moment, they stood there in awkward silence, then Fate said, "I'll go home now. Mother expected me to be home before six."

"Okay. But before you go, do you mind if I ask a question?" Chrono asked.

"Sure."

"How were you cheerful before? I mean, after Erika passed away."

"That," Fate smiled, "Is a secret and a promise."

"So can you tell me?" Chrono asked.

"Of course not. It's a secret. Gee, Chrono, your English is really bad." Fate joked.

"How?" Chrono raised an eyebrow.

"You should know the definition of secrets, I'm surprised you had asked me if I could tell you that secret." Fate said as she smiled with triumph. For a moment, Chrono was speechless, clearly, he couldn't find a way to retort. So he used his last resort and said, "Whatever."

"So, bye." Fate said as she waved to her friend. Chrono returned the wave and smiled at the disappearing figure of Fate as she walked away. Yup, that's her smile all right, a smile that means that she's okay.

As Fate walked home alone that day, she remembered the time when she and Erika made a pact while Erika was hospitalized…

"_Onee-chan."_

"_Yes, Erika?"_

"_If I really died…"_

"_Nonsense, Erika."_

"_I mean it, onee-chan. If I really died, please don't be sad."_

"_How can I not? I'm your sister."_

"_Because I wouldn't leave in peace if you were to grieve over me. So promise me?"_

"_Of course, Erika. I promise."_

"_And keep it a secret."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because I want to have a secret, just between you and me, onee-chan."_

"_Sure. I'll keep it a secret and a promise."

* * *

_

A/N: This chapter was kind of dull, isn't it? It was a pretty hard chapter to write because it full of sentimental stuff (in my opinion) and that isn't my forte.

I hope you enjoyed it and please review!


	11. Where is Teddy?

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Thank you for all who reviewed the previous chapter. Here's chapter 11 and I hope you enjoy it!

**KazeNoTsubasa**: Thanks for reviewing! Yes, that Fate and Erika incident is actually from Digimon 01. I was out of ideas! Hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

**Skyforger**: Yes, it was a complete rip-off from Digimon. I was desperate for ideas so I just used this. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter though.

**Anon**: Yes, that whole idea is from Digimon. Hope you'll like this chapter!

* * *

**_Chapter 11: Where is Teddy?_**

"Nanoha-chan, do we really have to do this?" Miyuki moaned in a tired voice. "Do yourself a favor and buy a new one!" And she continued putting up posters.

Nanoha and Miyuki were pasting notices all over town, plus the public notice board. On the poster was a picture of the teddy bear which Nanoha took with her camera phone before it was lost. On the top of the picture were four capitalized words: LOST. There was a short description of the teddy bear and the contact number for successful finders.

"Onee-chan!" Nanoha scolded. "That teddy bear was from someone important to me!"

"Ooh, from a boy, isn't it?" Miyuki went to the already-blushing Nanoha's side and whispered, "Was it that Yuuno boy?"

"Onee-chan!" Nanoha scold, face becoming as red as a tomato. "Just help me put these up!"

"I see. I'm correct, am I?" Miyuki said slyly.

"Onee-chan…" Nanoha said warningly with her venomous voice.

"Fine, I'll back off. Since the teddy is from my sister's future boyfriend, I shall help you this time." Miyuki walked away before Nanoha was given anytime to retort.

Nanoha walked around the lamp-posts and began to paste fresh notices on it. She knew that pasting notices wasn't much of a help, but at least there was a chance of finding back the teddy bear. It was from Yuuno, the most important person in her life.

"Hello, Nanoha-chan!" A voice called. Turning to the person calling her, Nanoha was surprised and delighted at who she saw.

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha said as Fate approached her. "Why are you here?"

"I was walking around the neighborhood and decided to drop off at your house. But your brother said that you were out, so I just took a walk. Didn't think I would meet you here." Fate then took a peek at the pile of paper that Nanoha was holding. "What are those and what are you doing?" Fate pointed to the stack of paper.

"I've lost my teddy bear and I'm pasting notices around." Nanoha said sadly, her heart sinking low.

"Why can't you just buy another one?" Fate asked tactlessly.

"Because it was from someone important to me." Nanoha explained, her fists clenched, angry with the fact that she was so careless that she lost the teddy bear.

"You need help?" Fate said in a more gentle tone, suddenly taking notice of Nanoha's disappointed face.

"Thanks. It'll help a lot." Nanoha smiled and gave a part of the notices to Fate. In less than the needed time, all the notices were pasted up in appropriate and authorized places. By then, it was already night and the three girls had gathered together.

"Hope someone would be kind and return the bear." Nanoha said, hoping for her teddy bear.

"Don't worry, your teddy bear will be returned to you in no time!" Fate attempted to cheer Nanoha up but she still retained her sad expression.

"Say, Fate." Miyuki said suddenly as a thought struck her. "Why don't you join us for dinner? You've help a lot today and you haven't visited us in quite a while."

"Sure. I'll be pleased to." Fate smiled and nodded approvingly while Nanoha beamed; at least she'll have a suitable company for the night.

As the trio walked home, they started chatting about random things, topic after topic. And no sooner, they reached Nanoha's home. Fate was given a warm welcome from Nanoha's parents and Kyoya. While the dinner was still being cooked, Fate and Nanoha sat on the couch of the living room, watching the program which is currently showing on the television screen.

"Fate, can you sleepover today?" Nanoha suddenly asked.

"Why?" Fate was confused with Nanoha's sudden question.

"Just wanted a friend to be with me, that's all." Nanoha explained. "So can you?"

"Sure. I'll just ring up my mother. But you have to lend me your clothes, you know." Fate said.

"Of course." Nanoha smiled happily as her friend agreed to sleepover at her house for that night. Meanwhile, Fate excused herself while she made a phone call to her mother, telling her of the sudden decision for the sleepover. Naturally, Precia approved and Fate was delighted.

When the Takamachi family and Fate were having their dinner, a dinner talk on various subjects was being held. When Nanoha's father asked Kyoya of his relationship with Shinobu, Kyoya blushed and quickly changed the topic to school. Although Nanoha wasn't very familiar with the purple hair girl, she could tell that Shinobu was very friendly.

After dinner ended, Nanoha returned to the room with Fate, taking along two slices of chocolate cake her mother made. In Nanoha's room, the two sat on the two red beanbags as they watched a comedy movie showing on the television while savoring their rich chocolate cake.

When the commercial came on, Nanoha looked at Fate and said gently, "Fate-chan, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Fate faced Nanoha with a confused expression.

"I mean, yesterday in school, you looked so down." Nanoha said with a worry glint in her eyes. "What happened?"

"It was nothing." Fate smiled cheerfully, reassuring her, "Whatever happened had been solved, so don't worry about me."

"Okay." Nanoha said with a shrug, clearly not satisfied with the answer.

"I'm really fine, Nanoha." Fate said firmly, "You shouldn't be too worried about me, you know. When I see that you are sad, I'll feel sad too (A/N: This sounds a lot like shoujo ai but trust me, it isn't). So cheer up, okay? And don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"If you say so." Nanoha said with a small smile.

"By the way," Fate began, pointing to Nanoha's handphone, "Did you receive any news from people of her teddy bear?"

"No, not yet." Nanoha shook her head sadly, eyes narrowing. Fate placed her hand on Nanoha's shoulder and consoled her, "I'm sure you'll find it. Besides, I'm helping you in this, remember?"

Nanoha nodded and said sincerely, "Thank you."

As the two girls began to watch the program shown on the television, a sweet feeling overcame Fate as she thought about that event happened the day before with Chrono.

_Meanwhile, with Yuuno… (Yuuno's POV)_

Today was a really tiring day. It was bad enough with the three-hour soccer practice, and the next thing I know, fan-girls were chasing after me. I couldn't even believe I have to sneak out of school to get home.

I exited the attached bathroom and lay on my bed in my fresh home clothes. Smiling at the relaxing feeling, I suddenly thought about the bear I found on the streets yesterday. It was rather cute and I had asked around to return the bear to the rightful owner. Unfortunately, none of them claimed that it was theirs so I simply took. Seeing the blackened areas with dirt, I've decided to wash it and it is now as good as new.

I took the bear from my desk and looked at it. Somehow, the bear carried a nostalgic feeling. Have I seen it before? It was almost impossible now that I think about it. It was on the ground for heaven's sake. How could the owner of the bear lost such a bulky item and not noticed the missing bear? However, there was still a possibility, although within a small range.

But as I looked at it, the more I find it familiar. Then, a thought struck me. I took my own teddy bear – the one I bought along with Nanoha's – and compare it to the one I found. I gasped at the results.

It was almost uncanny except for the colour: pink and blue.

* * *

**_A/N_**: I apologized for this chapter being short but the whole idea is inside and this was what I wanted it to be. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed it! I guess you all know who the bear belongs to...

Please review and tell me about your thoughts! Onegai!


	12. Secret Feelings

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: I've just learnt the technique of descriptive writing in school so I'm applying it here. Hope it turns out nice and well.

**seehuey**: I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

**KazeNoTsubasa**: Doesn't really matter if you don't log in. Anyway, since you're so fond of Chrono and Fate, I was thinking of 'officially' starting them in this chapter. Hope you like them!

**Skyforger**: I'm still thinking of that because I'm planning to make this chapter full Chrono and Fate so I don't think there'll be any concentration of Yuuno and Nanoha (well, only a bit). But I'll write the teddy incident about Nanoha after this chapter. For the time-being, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

**Dr.Rondart**: Yup, that quote was quite sentimental, but it makes me all tingle over (sorry, I'm not well at reading sentimental stuff, I only write them, but not read). And yes, I'm putting loads of descriptive words this chapter, hopefully their usage is correct. Well, drama between Chrono and Yuuno are really of a very small chance because they're so polite (I can't imagine them being sarcastic or something similar) so I don't think they'll have any quarrels or anything. I'm still thinking about it.

**Randomness**: Thank you, thank you! Hope this chapter will rock you as well!

**Hikori**: The Fate and Chrono romance is starting this chapter so I hope you'll like it. Don't worry about the reviews because not all people actually review. But I will deeply appreciate if you do so!

**000asianwriter000**: It's okay, at least I now know that you are still reading (I was afraid all my readers would run away because of my dull writing.). Hope you'll like this chapter!

_NOTE: THIS IS AN EDITED CHAPTER!_

* * *

**_Chapter 12: Secret Feelings_**

"Chrono! Wait up!" A voice called to the dark-hair boy from behind as he walked his way out of the classroom.

"Fate!" Chrono turned and saw the yellow-hair girl running towards him, panting when she reached his side and she paused for a few moments to catch her breath.

"What's the matter?" Chrono asked after he saw that Fate recovered from her shortage of breath.

"What's the matter?" Fate asked angrily with a pout, arms akimbo. "You said that you were bringing me to the planetarium today! Have you forgotten?"

"Planetarium? Hmm…" Chrono's face was pasted with a thoughtful look as he tried to recall his promise. He thought long and hard, digging from the messy corners of his head filled with school and his most important person. Then, he snapped out of his thinking mode and concluded after getting hold of that fragment of memory from the back of his head, "I remember now!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Fate asked impatiently, tapping her feet and arms crossed across her chest.

"For us to go home and change before we meet up again?" Chrono said. "We can't possibly be parading around the streets in our uniforms." Chrono reasoned.

"That's true." Fate said with a softer tone. After some thinking, she asked, "Then what time will we meet?"

"Well, we can meet at three o'clock." Chrono finalized as he saw that the current time was one o'clock. "We'll have plenty of time to change and wash up ourselves."

"Okay, but you still haven't told me the meeting place." Fate frowned, eyes narrowed.

"Let's just meet outside the planetarium, okay?" Chrono said with a smile. Fate nodded and the two walked out of school together.

"Where's Nanoha by the way?" Chrono suddenly asked.

"She's with Yuuno in the library finishing their project." Fate explained.

"I see." Chrono's voice held a slight disappointment, but an expert in the deciphering feelings of faces, Fate knew right away. She knew it would be tactless and insensitive to ask such a might-be emotional question and thus kept quiet. Deep inside her, she always knew.

Chrono was in love with Nanoha.

She knew that ever since the three of them were best friends. The look Chrono give to Nanoha was completely different from everyone. He always looked at Nanoha with so much hidden affection and love. And that, somehow, made Fate feel a pang of her heart against her chest.

Why?

Fate stopped in her tracks, thinking of the question: why. She had not given any thought of that question. Sure, that simple word with a question mark always appears in the back of her mind, but it was being dismissed from time to time. Something inside her was afraid of the answer. She knew she was trying to run away, but from what?

"Fate. Fate, are you okay?" Chrono shook her out of her thoughts and Fate looked shock at the sudden action from Chrono.

"I'm fine." Fate said quickly, slapping his hands away from her shoulders. Shocked but not daring to question further, Chrono managed a simple smile and said simply, "Good to know that." And the two continued to walk together.

When they reached the school gate, a black and posh Mercedes Benz was waiting for the rich and pampered Fate.

"Good afternoon, Miss Fate." The chauffeur greeted the girl, opening the door for Fate to enter.

"You need a ride home?" Fate asked, her expression still blank and her voice turned icy cold all of the sudden.

"I'm fine walking home by myself." Chrono said in an automatic voice.

"Okay then." Fate said monotonously and enters the car, giving a small wave at Chrono and the car drove off, leaving Chrono confused about Fate's sudden coldness in her attitude.

_At 2 o'clock (Fate's room)_

Peeling off the thin kiwi masque from her face and threw the residue into the bin. Then taking out her white overall dress, Fate wore it over and let it drop to her knees. She went to her dressing table and took a pink lip balm and applied over her lips. She briefly looked at the time and noted that it was only two. Taking a brush, she started to run the brush over her silky hair and then, she stood up, went in front of the big mirror and twirled around to see her overall appearance. Once she was satisfied, she smiled at her own reflection. Suddenly, her smile drooped slightly.

Thinking about her reaction to Chrono a moment ago, she felt rather guilty. She remembered slapping his arm away and saw the look of shock on his face. She burned with embarrassment and guilt as she recalled that events, her face turning into a deep tint of red.

_Do I like Chrono?_ She thought to herself and shook that possible thought away. Placing her hand on her chest, she tried to calm her beating heart. Suddenly, the phone rang and she quickly picked it up.

"Hello?" Fate greeted the caller.

"Hey, it's me, Chrono." The speaker at the other line said.

"Chrono?" Fate said in surprise, her heart started to beat much faster than usual. Regaining her composure, she said, "Yes? Why did you call me?"

"I want to come to your house to fetch you."

"Why the sudden 'motivation'?" Fate said and emphasized the word 'motivation'.

"I don't know. Maybe I just feel like it?" Chrono said with hesitation in his voice. "Well, is that okay with you?" He pressed on.

"Of course." Fate said instantly.

"Then, see you later."

"Goodbye." Fate said and hung up the phone, placing it at its original place.

After that, she went outside to her balcony and breathed in the fresh minty air and exhaled, feeling free. She was rid of all her troubles for the time-being, but that was enough, besides, a human cannot be without any dilemmas. Then, she retreated into her room and went to read her current novel, spending her time wisely while waiting for Chrono to arrive.

Very soon, three o'clock arrived and the doorbell rang punctually at that time. Linith opened the door welcoming the guest warmly with a friendly smile.

"Fate-sama! Chrono-san has arrived!" Linith announced in her acute voice. Immediately, Fate scuttled to the hall and greeted Chrono.

"Wow, Chrono, you are so punctual!" Fate was in awe of Chrono's promptness as she looked at her black digital watch for the time. "It's exactly three on the dot."

"Well, I'm used to being punctual." Chrono said with a shrug. "I don't like being late."

"I can tell." Fate murmured softly to herself. Then, with a bright smile, Fate said, "Let's go then!" Chrono nodded his head in approval and the two began to walk to the planetarium.

"I'm surprised that you decided to walk, Fate." Chrono said amusingly.

"I'm not that lazy, you know." Fate retorted and gave a small 'humph', to which Chrono chuckled.

When they reached the planetarium, they went in and found two excellent seats and settled on it. Then, the lights were switched off, devouring the hall in pure darkness. The person projecting the lights turned the projectors on and instantly, the ceiling of the hall which is now the 'sky' was decorated with petite dazzling stars, fighting with the picturesque of milky way for attention from the spectators.

"Wow." Fate marveled softly as the scenic sight enters her eyes and she began to sit back and enjoy the amazing display.

"It's so beautiful, isn't it?" Chrono asked. "If only it was the real Milky Way, I'm sure it'll be much nicer."

"But this isn't too bad." Fate said as her eyes continued to be glued on the ceiling of lifelike stars. The myth of the Milky Way played in her mind as she imagined the love and bond Altair and Vega had between them.

_If only…_ Fate thought as she eyed Chrono, who was sitting back and absorbing the wonderful sight of the stars.

After that, they left the planetarium with Chrono making a suggestion of having dinner together since it was seven o'clock. After much debating about the restaurant they should go to, they decided not to eat in a restaurant, instead, they got takeaways and had a picnic at the nearby park. Somehow, their trip to the planetarium expanded their liking for the stars and had especially gone to there for star-gazing.

As they walked to the park with their bags of food in hand, they searched for an unoccupied space to settle down. Fortunately, the two spotted an excellent for their meal and for star-gazing. They sat on the lush green grass and breathed in the night air as the gentle wind breezed through. Opening the plastic, they saw the small piles of food gathering in the plastic bag; there were bite-sized biscuits, small chocolate chip cookies, and small bottles of soft drinks or juice and there were a lot others.

"Are we able to finish it?" Fate asked as she looked at the big pile of food created from the small packs of food they bought. "This is indeed too much."

"Don't worry, we'll manage it." Chrono gave a small smile.

As they open the food packages, Chrono laid down on the grassy plain and admire the stars, he successfully aim a biscuit into his mouth and continued to watch the stars. Fate sat against the tree and looked at Chrono.

"What's wrong?" Chrono asked, noticing that Fate was eyeing him. "Something on my face?"

"Nothing!" Fate said quickly and turned back to the sky filled with dazzling stars like small carats of diamonds. Chrono gave a puzzled look but did not give much thought and turned back to the sky, watching the stars. Fate secretly took a glance at Chrono again. The masculine features that made up his face and the a mesmerized glint in Chrono's eyes charmed her in different ways.

_Although I was always denying it, in my heart, I knew it all along._

_I'm in love with Chrono.

* * *

_

A/N: Okay, hope this is a good starting of Chrono and Fate's romance. Happy or not, please tell me your views.

So please review!


	13. Seeing Through

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Yup, I concentrate on this story and another one (take a peek at my profile page). Also, I'm sorry for the late update. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

**Hikori**: Thanks for reviewing! Just in case you didn't know, I replaced the previous chapter and corrected the mistake. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

**Dr. Rondart**: I read your PM and thanks for the praise! Hope you'll enjoy this chapter too. I'll try to think of better adjectives and describing techniques.

**Anon**: Yup, I updated! Hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

_Note: Shall I be evil? Yes, I shall. Updating the next chapter will require 5 reviews from you guys! So please review! Meanwhile, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

* * *

_

**_Chapter 13: Seeing Through_**

The project that was assigned to the whole class was nearing its submission date. During this period of time, Yuuno and Nanoha's friendship has blossomed into a close one. They were often seen together because of schoolwork and for other friendly purposes, like going out. With each minute together, Nanoha felt happy, but her heart ached to tell him about her feelings towards him. Every time they were together, she felt more pain than happiness. He was just in front of her, but yet, the distance to getting to his heart was so far. Her obsession and love for him grew as time goes by. And she hopes the submission date for the project would drag on forever.

"Nanoha? Nanoha, are you listening?" A stern but kind voice called her. Nanoha snaps out of her dreamland and faced the person in front of her.

"Sorry." Nanoha apologized. "I kind of space out just now."

"That's okay." The yellow-haired boy said with a smile. "I was just asking you if you finished your work."

"Eh?"

Yuuno was at Nanoha's house for the project again. Even though they were near completion, Yuuno somehow found excellent excuses for him to go Nanoha's place. "You wouldn't want bad grades for our project, would you?" he would say and Nanoha would act reluctant allowing him to come, even though secretly, she jumped with joy.

"I mean," Yuuno said as he paused to sip on the glass of apple juice offered to him by Nanoha. "The school vacation is ending and school is starting soon."

Nanoha looked thoughtful. During this school holidays, she had been rather lazy, abandoning her homework and playing instead. Now that she thought about it, she started panicking a bit.

"Don't worry; I'm sure I can finish them by the end of school vacation." Nanoha said with smile. "But don't we all have a school skiing trip on the last week of this school vacation?"

"Yeah, we do." Yuuno looked up at her from his pile of research for the project adorned with words. "But you wouldn't like to cram after or during the trip, right?"

"Yeah." Nanoha muttered to herself.

_A week later_

"Okay, students, listen up!" The teacher, Mr Nakayama yelled to get the students' attention, almost falling as the bus drove around the sharp turn. "Darn crazy roads." He cursed the route silently and resumed his posture.

"Today, when you get off the bus, wait at the lobby for your room allocations. Do not go anyway except the toilets. But even so, tell your partners. After that…" Mr Nakayama continued his briefing for the students. After the long briefing which sent some students rolling their eyes, Fate turned excitedly to Nanoha who was seating beside her and was her partner.

"Are you excited?" Fate asked excitedly, her eyes shone.

"Yeah, kind of." Nanoha said monotonously, her eyes trailing at the scenery outside and entering dreamland once again.

"What are you thinking of?" Fate asked slyly.

"Nothing." Nanoha said in the same bored tone of voice.

"Are you thinking about Yuuno-kun?" Fate whispered.

Immediately, Nanoha snapped out of her bored look to a frightened one. "Of course not, Fate-chan!" Nanoha scolded Fate angrily. "What if he actually heard you? What would he think?"

"So you were thinking about him." Fate gave a knowing nod. "This skiing trip might be a good chance confessing to him. After all, the deadline is nearing." Fate said in a low voice, a mischievous glint playing in her eyes.

"What deadline?" Nanoha asked, looking at Fate with big and innocent eyes, genuine in not knowing what her friend was talking about.

"Remember?" Fate looked at Nanoha with a serious face. "We made a deal that you'll confess to him in three months time. If not, I'll tell him personally." Nanoha starred at her, mouth opened with shock.

"I see you remembered." Fate gave a sly smile.

Nanoha sighed with distress. She had forgotten all about it and now, hearing about this, she could swear that her soul was preparing to leave her body.

"Come on, Nanoha-chan." Fate said and nudged her arms. "You two must have progressed to some level during this time because of meetings for the projects. Besides, he did give you a bear."

"But still, how am I going to confess to him?" Nanoha frowned. "I'm such an average girl. Do you seriously think he would like me?"

"You never know," Fate said with a smile. "He might like you, you know."

"And if he doesn't?" Nanoha retorted.

"Then treat it like nothing happened." Fate answered. "Love is full of heartbreaks, sadness, joys and tears."

"You sound like an expert." Nanoha marveled at her friend.

"Of course. You're talking to a girl who has admirers from the age of six." Fate said, faking an air of superiority.

"But what if I get rejected?" Nanoha said, her eyes tilted nervously.

"Everyone have to get rejected for once." Fate's expression softened to a comforting one. "If all my admirers like me, does that mean that I have to accept all of them? Of course not, I reject anyone of them who I don't like."

"But that's so mean."

"It's the true and cruel reality, my dear friend." Fate smiled. "By the way," She whispered to Nanoha. "You only have one more month left."

Nanoha didn't reply; she was too wrapped up in her thoughts about Yuuno. The sudden memory of the deal between Fate and her wasn't very pleasing either. If only she knew what Yuuno's feelings towards her were and that he would actually make the first move, if that was even possible.

She secretly stole a glance at Yuuno who was sitting around the area where he was in sight. As usual, he was crowded by his fan-girls. Chrono, who was sitting beside him as his partner wasn't very pleased with their high-pitched and annoying voices. He glared at them, hoping that they'll get his message and move off. Unfortunately, his attempt failed and girls continued to drown them with their flirty tactics. Yuuno laughed nervously and Nanoha could tell that he didn't like the popularity he was getting.

Suddenly, Yuuno noticed Nanoha and smiled as their eyes locked onto each other. Nanoha blushed deep crimson red and gave a small smile. Her heart skipped a beat and she turned swiftly, continuing to look out at the scenery, breaking the eye contact with him. Fate looked up from her book and detected Nanoha's faint pink cheeks. A sudden sadness filled her as she spotted Chrono's hurt look.

_If only people could see through feelings and heartbreaks.

* * *

_

A/N: Not really a chapter but more like a filler. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Please review!

And remember, **5 reviews is the price for the next chapter**. It's not that mean, isn't it?


	14. How to Tell

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Finally, I updated. Sorry for being so late. I was reading the novel, Gossip Girl. I'm addicted to it. Anyway, hope you'll enjoy this chapter! By the way, MSLN StrikerS rocks!

**Anon**: Thanks for reviewing! And regarding the describing and expressing, well, I hope it'll improve in this chapter. After all, I did read books. Enjoy!

**FlareKnight**: Sorry for the rip-off from Digimon, my creativity juices just dried up back there. Anyway, I'm really glad you are enjoying this story so far. Hope you'll continue to like the future chapters!

**Hikori**: Well, I did try to go to your story URL, but it doesn't seem to work. Do you mind giving me your URL again? Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this chapter!

**KazeNoTsubasa**: At first, I have forgotten all about it. I only remembered when I was lost for ideas for chapter 13, so it was kind of random. Enjoy this chapter!

**tanminhhuynh**: Thanks for reviewing! It is because of you I can continue my chapter 14 because it was the 5th review! Thank you! Enjoy this chapter!

**AngelicSong**: Sorry for the late update! I promise I'll make this chapter extra nice, ok? Enjoy!

NOTE: This is edited. I couldn't stand the bad quality of this chapter anymore!

* * *

_**Chapter 14: How to Tell**_

"AHHH!" Nanoha shouted as she was crashing onto the tree. With a loud 'thump', she knocked on the pine tree, sending the pile of snow resting on the branches falling down. "Are you okay, Nanoha-chan?" Fate asked worriedly as she skillfully skied to her friend, inquiring about her status.

"Barely." Nanoha muttered as she took Fate's extended arm and got up with her help. "Skiing is almost impossible!"

"Don't give up yet, Nanoha-chan." Fate encouraged. "Egypt wasn't built overnight." She paused and looks over Nanoha's shoulders. "Maybe he can coach you on skiing. He looks pretty well."

Nanoha turned her head and saw what Fate saw. Yuuno was surrounded with girls who were begging him to teach them how to ski. She noticed Yuuno's usual nervous smile, certain that he wasn't that pleased, but he was such a gentleman that he couldn't refuse them. Nanoha saw the yellow-haired boy taking a girl's hand and leading her with each step. How she wished that the girl was her. Her face immediately turned crimson red and she pout at Fate. "That was a funny joke." Nanoha said sarcastically.

"I'm serious!" Fate insisted. "You're only asking him to teach you skiing. Unless you're thinking of something else." Fate gave Nanoha a sly expression, a mischievous glint playing in her eyes. Nanoha quickly turned away, "Of course not! I wasn't thinking about anything else."

"Then go ahead. Ask him." Fate pushed the uncooperative Nanoha towards where Yuuno was.

"Yuuno-kun, can you please teach Nanoha-chan how to ski?" A voice called Yuuno from behind. He turned around to respond but saw that it was Fate and Nanoha.

"Hey, we were here first!" A Yuuno-fan-girl protested.

"You can't help who Yuuno decide to teach, can you?" Fate shot back at that girl and received no reply. Apparently, what she said was true. However, Nanoha deeply wanted Yuuno to teach her, mainly for two reasons: she wanted to be with Yuuno and she didn't want Fate to be sniggered at by that girl.

Yuuno seemed to see through Nanoha's thoughts – only the second reason – and he nodded, "I guess I'll just have to teach you first, Nanoha. Do you also need help, Testarossa-san?" Yuuno offered politely.

"Of course not! I'm just here to ask you for help on Nanoha-chan's behalf." Fate explained. "Teach her well! I don't want her to bump into another tree." Fate added the last statement while walking away. Nanoha made a face and suddenly, remembering Yuuno, she faced him and laughed nervously.

"Shall we start?" Nanoha asked.

"Can we find a different spot?" Yuuno whispered to her.

"But…" Nanoha began but was stopped when she understood Yuuno's point; he didn't like his fan-girls 'stalking' him.

Then, swiftly and without warning, the two quickly dash out of the crowd and into a safe place. The girls who they dashed past looked shocked and immediately scattered all over the place, looking for them – or rather their dear beloved Yuuno. After much running, Nanoha was out of breaths and pulled Yuuno's hand to stop. Yuuno turned around to look at the panting Nanoha, growing worried about his friend.

"Are you okay, Nanoha?" Yuuno asked in between quick breaths. He collapse on the ground beside her and asked with concern, "You have no asthma or anything, do you?"

"Of…of course not!" Nanoha said. After successfully catching her breath, she gave a small assurance smile. She looked at the warm hand she was holding and a red crawled up to her cheeks. Yuuno was gripping onto her hand tightly as if she was going to slip off any moment.

Yuuno faced Nanoha and noticed that she was blushing. Suddenly, he realized that he was holding onto her hand. He quickly took his hand away and muttered a sorry. An awkward silence hung in the air and the cold breeze past them.

"Shall we start now?" Yuuno broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Start what?" Nanoha looked at him with round confused eyes.

"Skiing. Testarossa-san said you're bad at it." Yuuno explained while he stood up. He patted the snow from his long sleeve coat and took up his skiing items.

"I'm not bad." Nanoha retorted with a shrug. "I'm just inexperienced."

"Come on, let's start." Yuuno said quickly, stifling his giggles on Nanoha's cuteness.

Yuuno extended his hand to Nanoha, offering a bit of help to her. However, his hand was rejected by her with a simple 'no thanks'. Nanoha stood up by herself, trying hard not to blush; she had already been so embarrassed and excited when Yuuno held her hand without noticing it. If she were to reach out her hand to accept Yuuno's help, she might just blurt out the fact that she like him for ages. Somehow, Yuuno felt upset; there was no apparent reason why so, but he just felt…rejected when Nanoha refused his help.

(A/N: Lazy author. Plus, I don't know anything about skiing so I'll just have to skip this whole part!)

After moments of practice, Nanoha could feel her foundation in skiing firming. She tried to ski from one spot to another, and then back to the original spot again. In fact, this time, she didn't crash onto the tree and she had the tiniest pride of herself – though she knew that the reason she didn't crash was because there was Yuuno. But she still tried, did she? Surely she deserves some effort points.

Then came the biggest challenge; Yuuno wanted to test her on whether she was fine on her own. He wanted her to ski from a point down the slope. Although it wasn't very steep, it was quite a challenge, considering that she was only a beginner – a beginner who could master skiing well enough.

"Go on." Yuuno pressed her when she was at the starting point. "Just relax and remember all my pointers."

Nanoha nodded. She have no problems trusting Yuuno, and earning a concerning tone from Yuuno wasn't very bad either.

_Concerning?_

Nanoha quickly raced down the slope, encouraging herself with Yuuno's concern – if he was even concern about her at all. Anyway, she wanted to impress him and also herself.

As Yuuno watched Nanoha trying her best to reach the ending spot he had set for her, he gave a small smile. Looking at Nanoha made him feel…warm. Maybe – just maybe – he had, under unknown circumstances, already…

"AHH!" The voice of Nanoha's anxious voice, breaking through the thoughts of Yuuno. Immediately, the yellow-haired boy looked down and across the slope, searching for Nanoha. The bright orange hair allowed Yuuno to find her and he instantly ran towards her.

"What happened?" Yuuno asked anxiously.

"It…It's nothing!" Nanoha waved her hands about. "I just fell down, that's all!"

"Are you okay?" Yuuno asked with so much concern that Nanoha looked at him with question. "I mean, since you fell down or something, you must have hurt yourself somewhere." Yuuno looked away with no apparent reason.

"Don't worry, Yuuno-kun." Nanoha reassured him with a small smile. "I'm fine!"

"Oh." Yuuno found himself suppressing his blushing.

Just as Nanoha stood up, she felt a sharp pain at her ankle. She grimaced silently and stayed on the cold snow-covered ground. "Are…are you okay, Nanoha?" Yuuno asked uncertainly as he saw Nanoha not moving.

"Umm…" Nanoha timidly. She knew she had sprained her ankle because of that rough fall just now. But it was indeed very embarrassing to add to the burden of others, more ever, it was Yuuno. What would he think of her if she really complains? A spoilt child? Not that she was one.

"Did you really hurt yourself?" Yuuno asked suspiciously, looking at the area where she was holding onto; her ankle.

"I…well, I think I sprain my ankle." Nanoha gave a sign and a small groan because of the pain.

"I see." Yuuno said slowly, then with a smile, he suggested, "Why don't I carry you back to the resort?"

"EH?!"

"I can't possibly leave you here." Yuuno reasoned, seeing the shock face of Nanoha. "If I leave now and get the teacher's help, I'll probably lose your location and you might be stuck here in the cold. You wouldn't want that, do you?"

"That's true." Nanoha said softly. But the thought of Yuuno carrying her excites her. Her face blushed ruby red and reluctantly but excitedly, she agreed.

"Climb on my back." Yuuno instructed and Nanoha did so, minimizing her actions on her leg so that the pain would not strike. "Is your ankle alright?" Yuuno asked once more, concerned for his friend.

"It's not too bad." Nanoha said with a small blushing smile. And slowly, Yuuno carried her with caution, worry that her pain would strike again.

As they walked towards the resort, Nanoha looked attentively at Yuuno, studying his features; his fair complexion, his mesmerizing eyes and breathed in his scent deeply.

Somehow, Nanoha couldn't care less how she was going to tell Yuuno about her feelings. There and then, she couldn't care the least at all. The answer to how to tell him wasn't important anymore.

As long as he was with her. With her alone.

* * *

A/N: Do you think this was an improvement? Hope you all like this edited chapter!

Please review!


	15. Cry

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Sorry for the late update. Just a note: do not kill me if the English sucks in this chapter because I almost failed the English exam (cries)…

**Anon**: Actually, I thought that might be pretty obvious, but hey, since you don't get it, there will be more for you to look forward to. Enjoy this chapter!

**Steel Heart**: I don't really object Chrono and Nanoha together because they look kind of cute together. But Nanoha and Yuuno really look like a couple if they're together. Anyway, neither of that is ever going to come true because CHRONO IS AMY'S! There go my hopes for Chrono and Fate. Curse Amy! (Amy's fans, you did not read this.) And – sigh – they're married and I think they have a pair of twins (heard this from my friend so don't make it sound like it's confirmed). Enjoy this chapter! Sorry for the earlier ranting.

**FlareKnight**: I never tried skiing too (the country I'm living in _never_ snows). Don't worry, I won't make Nanoha fall next time when she skis – I'm not a sadist (err…) – besides, she's just a beginner so it's natural. Enjoy this chapter!

**tanminhhuynh**: I'm so glad you enjoyed my story so far. I promise I'll keep this up! Enjoy!

**KazeNoTsubasa**: I didn't take that from DN Angel but hmm… thinking about make it look quite similar. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

**Teresa Pham**: HOORAY! New reader! Welcome to my story and… (everyone beats up Hajimari for being long-winded). Anyway, yes, Yuuno is starting to like Nanoha so look forward to the progress of this chapter! Wonder away, dear friend.

**Hikori**: Yup, here's chapter 15! Oh, and I still can't see your URL clearly in the reviews page so if you don't mind, would you please space out at the dot (.)? I would love to read my reader's stories but it wouldn't help much if I cannot access it. Thanks and enjoy this chapter!

**tiyeara**: Here's chapter 15! I'm so sorry for the late update.

**ScorpioGal95**: Sorry for the late update! Enjoy this chapter!

NOTE: THIS IS AN EDITED CHAPTER. I also decided that this story will have 22 chapters. (I so need to set a limit for this story)

* * *

_**Chapter 15: Cry **_

Fate remembered the melancholy in Chrono's expression when he saw Yuuno carrying Nanoha back from skiing. Nanoha's sprained ankle had worried her, but now that she was being treated and was resting in the room, her thoughts lingered around Chrono. She decided that she couldn't tolerate how Nanoha was hurting Chrono silently without knowing. Hence, she decided to tell Nanoha about Chrono's feelings, even though she knew Chrono would be angry with her.

After finishing the errands from the teachers, she quietly walked back to her room. As she was getting out her card key to gain entry into the room, she heard voices inside the room. The first voice, no doubt, belonged to Nanoha. The second voice sounded familiar and Fate thought hard before realizing it was Chrono's. What was Chrono doing in their room? Deciding to be an observer (or rather listener) for the time-being, Fate leaned close against the door and eavesdrop the conversation.

"What do you like about Yuuno anyway?" Fate heard Chrono asking.

"Well," Nanoha replied hesitantly. "I don't really know. Liking him just happens. I don't know when I started to notice him, but when I look at him, I feel really…safe and peaceful. Why are you asking this anyway?"

"What do you feel when you're with me?" Chrono asked. Fate's heart suddenly sank. Was he going to tell Nanoha about his feelings? She knew Nanoha like Yuuno a lot, but maybe it's just a teenage crush? What if after much reflection, Nanoha decides that she really like Chrono after all? What about her? It felt like a sword piercing through her heart.

"I feel happy." Fate heard Nanoha's voice. "You make me feel confident and help me a lot. I like you, Chrono-kun."

"Like as in like or in some other ways?"

"I just like you as a friend, Chrono-kun. You'll always be my best friend." Nanoha said cheerfully.

Somehow, Fate felt relieved that Nanoha rejected Chrono. But putting herself into Chrono's shoes, she felt miserable. She always like Chrono; love him, in fact. She always assumes that he might like her too, but to escape the cruel truth, she decided never to confess to him, lest his answer might not be what she wanted.

"Thanks, I better get going now. Bye." Fate heard Chrono said and quickly slots her card key into the slot. Fate opened the door and saw Chrono looking at her with much surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Fate feigned her surprise at seeing Chrono.

"Nothing, just had a little conversation. See you at dinner." Chrono went away without saying much. Fate saw those melancholy eyes of Chrono, and she turned back to Nanoha who was smiling at her.

"Why are you here so late?" Nanoha asked, her face filled with innocence and oblivion. Apparently, Nanoha hadn't seen through what Chrono was hinting at, and she continued to read her magazine while sipping her mug of warm chocolate.

"I was running errands for the teachers." Fate explained and hung her coat of the hanger. "What conversation did you have with Chrono-kun?"

"He asked me what do I like about Yuuno-kun and then asked me what do I feel when I'm with him." Nanoha replied in a confused tone. "I don't know what he was talking about anyway." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled at Fate, "You know, Yuuno-kun taught me loads of skiing today."

"Really, was it fun?" Fate said, forcing herself to be excited over Nanoha love affairs.

"Yeah. Let's go skiing tomorrow together, Fate-chan. And don't worry, I won't knock onto another tree." Nanoha assured.

"That'll depends on how your sprained ankle will be tomorrow." Fate said. "I'll have a shower. call me if you need anything. I don't want your ankle to worsen."

"Thanks, Fate-chan." Nanoha said happily as she took another sip of her warm chocolate and switched on the television with the remote control.

As Fate was at the bathroom, she recalled Chrono's sad eyes. _I wonder, will he be alright?_

_At dinner…_

By seven sharp, all the students gathered at the dining hall, where cutleries were already set out and plates distributed at every seat of the table. Nanoha, whose ankle was much better now, scanned around for Chrono, who seemed to be missing after their last meeting in their room.

"That strange, I thought Chrono would be here by now. He is always punctual." Nanoha noted.

"There will be people who will have their first time at everything." Fate suggested and held Nanoha's hand, leading her to an available seat. After a few moments, Chrono showed up with Yuuno and the two took their places; Yuuno sat next to Nanoha, who blushed so much, and Chrono took his seat next to Fate, which was most surprising.

Dinner turned out to be rather well. The food was quite delicious and the hall was filled with laughter and chattering. While Yuuno, Nanoha and Fate engaged in a conversation, Fate tried hard to bring Chrono into it. However, after muttering a few words, he would always fall silent.

After dinner came the debrief, where the teachers once again emphasized on disciplinary matters led by Mr Nakayama. After the debrief, the students went back to their respective rooms for the much-awaited free time. Nanoha and Fate walked to their room excitedly, thinking of all the possible fun things they could do until late at night.

Within the first hour the two girls reached their rooms, their faces were decorated with shades of pink and purple eye-shadows, along with a faint tint of red on their cheeks. After having laughs at each other's faces, they wash off the make-up and redo another style. Fate then turned on the television, searching through the channels for something amusing and entertaining while Nanoha scurried through their bag's for snacks that they agreed to bring secretly.

"This is boring, Nanoha-chan!" Fate said irritably as she randomly presses the buttons on the remote control.

"Well, I'm sure there's bound to be at least one interesting show." Nanoha replied as she opened a packet of chips.

"Which doesn't show tonight? Yes." Fate said sarcastically.

"Let me have a try at the remote control." Nanoha suggested.

"Like that will work miracles to the channels." Fate rolled her eyes but nonetheless passed it to Nanoha.

After a few short seconds, Fate had already grown impatient. "I'm going out for a breather. Have fun with the remote control." Fate said. Nanoha replied with a nod and Fate put on a warm but thin coat. Closing the door behind her, she walked to the hall, where the warm fire at the fireplace was still crackling lively. There, she saw someone sitting at the couch and it didn't take long for Fate to identify the person's back view.

"I didn't expect you to be here this late, Chrono-kun."

Chrono turned to the voice and was surprised to see Fate. "Oh, it's you." Chrono muttered monotonously.

"What's wrong?" Fate asked. "You didn't seem too happy at dinner and now, you're gloomy and all."

"Nothing." Chrono looked away and stare at the fire.

"Is it about Nanoha-chan?" Suddenly, Chrono perked up, and looked at Fate in disbelieve. "Of course not! Why would you think that way?" Chrono protested.

"Well, I think it would be difficult to, well, let go of the one you like." Fate said slowly and hesitantly.

"I don't know who or what you are talking about." Chrono denied.

"You do know, Chrono-kun." Fate pressed on. "You just don't want to…well, admit it." After a few shorts seconds, Fate continued simply, "You don't want to admit the answer, do you?"

"Can you just…shut up?!" Chrono burst out, frightening Fate a little; Chrono seldom used such words. "You think you know anything, huh? Well, newsflash, you don't! everyone loves you, you can get anyone you want." Then he said in a softer tone, "You…you don't know the feeling of not being liked by the one you really love."

Suddenly, Chrono felt a pair of arms wrapped around him. "Fate…" Chrono whispered softly to himself. "I do, that's why, I'm here to see whether you're okay. You may deny all you want, Chrono-kun." Fate said in a gentle voice. "But you know the answer to your own question."

"You don't know anything." Chrono repeated defensively, but in a soft voice.

"I know everything." Fate explained. "I saw through everything since you met Nanoha-chan. I know your feelings towards her."

"Then why do you keep encouraging her to be with Yuuno?" Chrono countered. "I know what I said may sound selfish but do you know how I feel when I see them together?"

"If you really love her, you will want to see her happy." Fate reasoned gently. "Even if she is with you but yet, she's not happy, would you still keep her only for yourself?"

Chrono thought for a long while. What Fate had just said made perfect sense. If the person you like doesn't feel that kind of happiness when she is with you, would you still keep her? That – to Chrono – seemed very selfish. And certainly, he didn't want to see Nanoha sad, and he knew Yuuno will always be the one to give her the feeling of having everything. Not Chrono himself, but Yuuno Scrya.

"Can…can you accompany me for a little longer?" Chrono suddenly requested, tears threatening to fall but was successfully held back.

"Of course." Fate said lightly. "And you know, you don't have to be afraid to cry."

Immediately, Chrono's tears fell. He knew that a man shouldn't shed tears, but at that moment, he couldn't contain them anymore. As he cried, Fate wrapped her arms tighter around Chrono and patted his back tenderly.

Suddenly, the snow storm outside subsided and all that's left was little snow floating gently in the air.

* * *

A/N: Although this is an edited chapter, I'm still not sure if it was a job-well-done. Well, I really do hope it was. If it's not, well...I shall put extra effort in chapter 16.

Please review!


	16. Danger!

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Sorry for updating earlier. I went overseas for a holiday, you see. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

**AngelicSong**: I have to admit Fate was kind of sweet back there, but even I, myself, was freaked out at how I made Fate such a sentimental character. Ah, that's what you get when you become touchy-feely. Enjoy this chapter!

**Anon**: Yeah, I can tell it was dull. But I'm over it, and so should you. Hope this chapter satisfies you. If not, I'm not reading useless books for the next few days. (Hope you get my point)

**Dr. Rondart**: Nope, it's not really annoying. It's for the sake of improvement after all. (Oh no, what have I been reading?) Anyway, your PM and review was fairly useful so (bows head), thank you very much! Enjoy this chapter!

**Steel Heart**: Finally! Someone who understands my pain of the dreadful news! (Seriously, what have I been reading…?) Sigh…producers, nobody can understand what they're thinking; often putting wrong official pairings in animes, ruining them (some were fantastic though, like the producers in Card Captor Sakura :) ) Anyway, I apologize for my earlier ranting. Thanks for the review and enjoy this chapter!

**FlareKnight**: Well, since Fate and Chrono is one of the main pairings I'm emphasizing in this story, look forward to more Chrono x Fate moments. And yeah, Chrono need to open his eyes _real big_ to start notice Fate. If ever MSLN StrikerS has a SOUND STAGE with how Chrono proposed to Amy, I will so certainly buy it.

**tiyeara**: I'm not stopping this story EVER. People in this world need to know Chrono x Fate and Yuuno x Nanoha are the best. (Well, they're not shoujo ai at the very least) Enjoy this chapter!

**KazeNoTsubasa**: 1 chapter of Fate x Chrono and Nanoha x Yuuno coming right up! You're like this chapter, I know you will :)

**yonexfreak**: Umm…I'm not sure what situation you are right now but thanks for the review for the previous chapter. I still cannot – absolutely cannot – understand how I made Fate such a sentimental character.

**Lee-jin**: I'm glad you liked it and I hope you will too in this chapter. Enjoy!

**Hikorii**: Honestly, I haven't read your stories yet because I just haven't got the time. Sorry! However, I might go into that URL sometime, unless of course, you update them in your ff(dot)net account, that would make my life easier. Enjoy this chapter!

NOTE: This chapter might be…well…weird so bear with me! Ah, and it's edited, due to advices and extra English tips. Hee hee :)

* * *

_**Chapter 16: Danger!**_

"Fate-chan, what took you so long?" Nanoha whined irritably. "You've gone for about half an hour just for taking a breather."

"Sorry, Nanoha-chan." Fate apologized as she refrained from smiling widely lest Nanoha gets suspicious. "I got caught up with something. What is that?" Fate asked while pointing to the television screen.

"Titanic." Nanoha simply said as Fate sat down on the clean carpeted floor, fishing a snack lazily from a bag of original-flavoured chips, not really interested in the movie Nanoha had discovered. "It is the best I can find through all the channels. It is decent enough." She reasoned hopefully.

"Better than nothing." Fate gave a small smile, surprising Nanoha because there weren't any remarks of dissatisfaction or some similar sort. Nanoha eyed Fate for a while but the yellow-haired girl was oblivious to the hard questioning gaze continued to fish chips out of the bag and pop them into her mouth.

Finally, Nanoha gave up and sighed, diverting her eyes to the television screen. The opening credits were rolling and a mysterious and melancholy music sounded through the soundproof room. Fate placed her arm on the bed behind them and rested her head on her knuckles. Even though her eyes were on the television, she had no ambition of paying attention to the movie. Her thoughts slowly lingered to Chrono, wondering how he is feeling at this present moment. Had he decided to give up on Nanoha completely? Is he still half-hearted about letting Nanoha slip under his nose? Or did he have a secret resolution about telling Nanoha his feelings anyway?

Fate turned her attention to Nanoha, who was already, by far, engrossed in the movie 'Titans' 'Titany' whatever. She couldn't care less what title it was. A selfish question came across her mind, a question she didn't want to think about but suddenly, it just pop up in her mind.

_Why does Chrono like you so much, Nanoha-chan?_

"Did you just say something?" Nanoha asked, turning down the volume from the television.

"Huh? Nothing. I didn't say anything." Fate denied quickly.

"But I heard you saying something." Nanoha insisted.

"You must have heard wrongly. Maybe it was from the television and you mistakenly thought that I've said something." Fate conjured lies, and very good one, I might add. Nanoha shrugged and cast a suspicious look at Fate, who merely smiled nervously, before turning back to the television.

Once again, Fate diverted her eyes onto the television, not paying much attention to the movie though. Thoughts of Chrono were more interesting than this...

_The next day…_

The snow storm had been reduced to nothing by next morning and excited students quickly rush out from the resort after finishing their breakfast to continue where they left off the day before which was rudely interrupted by the disliked snow storm.

Unlike those over-excited students, Nanoha and Fate decided to leave the resort in their own sweet time before venturing into the mass area of soft and cold snow. They found a nice place to settle down. it was quiet and a reasonable distance from the resort and it was on a tiny hill. They took out their skiing equipments and released them onto the ground, heaving a sigh of relief as the heavy weights left their bodies. The two friends haven't decided what to do yet. They had until lunchtime to enjoy themselves before engaging in class bonding time, which was scheduled shortly after lunch.

"Have you mastered skiing?" Fate suddenly asked. To her surprise and of course, her delight, Nanoha smiled brightly and nodded. "Yeah, I did." Nanoha exclaimed proudly. "I must say Yuuno-kun is a really good coach."

"That's nice to hear." Fate stated as she lay down on the soft snowy ground. Slowly, she relaxed at the cool feeling emitting from the snow. She closed her eyes, inhaling deep breaths of pine-scented air giving off from the nearby pine-trees. For a moment, she thought she was alone, and the thought was comforting and…nice.

"Fate-chan?" Nanoha called and Fate was once again, reminded of her friend's existence.

"Yes?" Fate answered but continued to stay oblivious to the surroundings, except for Nanoha and the other wonders of nature.

"What are we going to do now?" Nanoha asked, sighing just for the sake of boredom.

"What do you want to do?" Fate said, still keeping her eyes closed.

"Want to ski with me?"

"I don't mind." Fate said automatically. "Let's ski to that pine tree over there." Fate challenged.

"Sure." Nanoha said with a determined glint in her eyes.

"Don't knock down the tree, Nanoha-chan." Fate joked as she put on her goggles and other skiing gears.

"Fate-chan!"

"Alright, alright." Fate stifled a loud giggle. When the two friends were all geared up for the little competition between them, Fate shouted, "Ready, get set, GO!" Off they went and down they skied, leaving fresh tracks on the pure white snow as they went along.

"I'll win you, Fate-chan!" Nanoha shouted. The two of them were nearly on par with each other,

"Not if I win you first!" Fate countered with great determination.

_I cannot lose. I cannot lose Chrono to Nanoha-chan!_

Suddenly, Fate realized what she was thinking about and she was shocked at herself. What had she just thought about? Nanoha likes Yuuno, right? But one can never tell the future. What if Nanoha suddenly likes Chrono? What if…

"AHHHH!" A gentle bump was all it has to take; Fate's grip on the ski pole loosened gently, only the loss of balance and the feeling of not grabbing anything made her register to her mistake. She had been too distracted to even realize that she was skiing, and on a fairly steep slope too. But even then, it's too late... Fate screamed as she realized that the ski pole had been strewn far behind, out of her reach.

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha shouted with a voice filled with fear. She skied quickly, hoping to catch Fate at any rate. The yellow-haired girl was now at a loss. The ski pole had dropped behind as she skied down the steep hill and all she was left was only one of the ski pole. With false hope, she plunged down the remaining handle, hoping it would act as a brake to prevent herself from falling as badly.

Below, where all the students were enjoying themselves, small crowds had already gathered and taken interest in whatever was cascading down the steep snowy hill. No doubt, Chrono joined the amazed crowd. Seeing Yuuno, Chrono hesitated but he needed to satisfy his curiosity.

"What is happening?" Chrono asked as he went towards Yuuno.

"Something is coming down from the hill." Yuuno explained. "Take a look. Over there." Yuuno pointed and Chrono immediately saw what all the fuss was about.

"It's probably some loose rocks." Chrono said with raised eyebrows. Gee, what was so interesting about that?

"I don't think so." Yunno said. "It seemed more like a…person."

Chrono squinted at the cascading object, person, whatever. The yellow hair obviously belonged to whoever was going to collide onto the earth. He focused his vision more to identify the person. With sudden realizations, he ran below the hill.

"Call the teachers!" Chrono faced backwards and shouted to the large crowd of gathered students. Immediately, girls flocked towards the resort, abiding to Chrono's request. It was a request from one of the class's most popular boys. Surely they couldn't resist a chance to gain his favour, even though considering the current situation.

Yuuno ran behind Chrono, surprised at his sudden actions. Running below the hill, asking people to call for teachers, what the hell is Chrono thinking about? When Yuuno caught up with his friend, he asked, "Why are you calling the teachers?"

"That person is Fate-chan." Chrono said quickly, his voice shaking as if he was at a loss on what to do.

"Fate-san?" Yuuno repeated and immediately, he looked upwards, confirming the person. It was indeed Fate, and the person trailing quickly behind her was…

"Nanoha." Yuuno whispered softly. "Nanoha!" Yuuno shouted once more. His voice carried hints of anxiety and he, himself, was feeling so useless and worried.

"What?! Nanoha is there too?!" Chrono said with a surprised tone. He looked up, squinting his eyes again to further understanding their predicament. He could tell Nanoha was skiing alright, but the real problem was Fate. She had completely lost control.

Chrono could tell that if something is not done, Fate might collide with the snowy ground. Hard. Who knows how serious her injuries will be? Expertly, he estimated Fate's collision point and he stationed himself there, occasionally moving left and right to better position himself to get ready to catch Fate.

"What are you doing?" Yuuno exclaimed.

"If my estimated calculations are correct, I should be able to catch Fate from where she is falling." Chrono explained. Despite his own opinion that it wouldn't be 100 percent accurate or even worked, Yuuno also stationed himself at a point so that he too can catch Fate. Hey, what are friends for?

After a few seconds, it was the moment where Chrono was expecting: Fate is reaching below. Chrono put out his arms and quickly catch Fate as she leapt forward from the impact. Luckily, Chrono caught her just in time but the impact flew Chrono (who was holding Fate at that time) quite a fair distance from the hill.

"Are you okay, Fate-chan?" Nanoha asked anxiously after she had successfully gotten down the slope without any problems. By now, the teachers had arrived and asked Yuuno what happened. The yellow-haired boy obediently conveyed the chain of events, to which the teachers looked quite displeased with.

"Fate-chan? Fate-chan?" Nanoha lightly nudged Fate, who was unconsciously lying on Chrono.

_"Fate!"_

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the last bits of the story because I was rushing for time and yet I wanted to update. Hope you liked it! 

Please review!


	17. Forgotten

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Sorry for the late update. I was busy watching Prince of Tennis. And yes, I'm totally OBSESSED.

**yonexfreak**: Nope, she won't have a coma but have something else. But don't worry, the whole thing will end up just fine. Though it'll probably end up as 30 chapters more or less. Enjoy this chapter!

**FlareKnight**: Yeah, it's called the skiing pole. I found out about it days later the first update of this chapter. Thanks for the review and enjoy this chapter!

**Dr. Rondart**: Thanks for the tips and advices! Enjoy this chapter!

**Anon**: I also didn't expect this. It was just an idea at a spur of moment.

**Hikorii**: I just wanted the "measuring" to show how Fate will fall on Chrono (giggles and smiles really widely). Enjoy this chapter! And don't worry, your English isn't that bad; mine is near-perfect because I used the spelling and grammar check provided by Microsoft Word. So don't feel bad about your English. (I did almost fail English exams though)

**Ciel Klein**: Glad you like it! I was wondering if the story is getting boring by every chapter. Enjoy this chapter!

**anime-hime12**: Sorry the late update. I was obsessed with Prince of Tennis and didn't really bother to update. Enjoy this chapter!

**tiyeara**: Great minds think alike eh? (Smiles) Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

_**Chapter 17: Forgotten**_

The three common friends gathered beside the soft bed in the dull sickbay. They looked at the yellow-haired girl laying lifelessly on the bed. Though the teacher had assure them that she hadn't suffer any injuries (due to how Chrono caught her), the three of them were still filled with worry that they decided not to leave until she woke up.

Suddenly, the silent room was once again disrupted by Nanoha's soft choking and hip-cups. Yuuno immediately placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, calming her down a little, though the sounds still persist, but at a minimum. He looked at Fate with hopes that she'll wake up soon so that Nanoha can feel better. Although he and Fate wasn't very close, but his interaction with Nanoha and caused him to gain a little bit more knowledge in Fate's personality and her lifestyle.

Not that he needed to know any.

Chrono was sitting at the chair next to the bed, not making any sound. In fact, his expression was so emotionless that one would think he was stoning, even outstanding the limit. His eyes showed no life, he was as still as a stone statue and his face looked a little paler than usual. No one could ever predict what he was probably thinking at this point of time; not that anyone would want to except few exceptional people who falsely pledged their love to Chrono_-sama_ (fan girls).

"Nanoha, she's going to be alright." Yuuno repeated for who-knows-how-many-times. "The teachers said that she probably fainted due to the shock. So don't worry."

"I know. I know she'll wake up soon." Nanoha said with her muffled voice. "But it was my fault! If only I hadn't proposed the race, then she'll probably be fine, or be smiling or retorting to whatever I say right now."

"Nanoha…" Yuuno muttered her name softly. He felt himself feeling sad for the innocent girl, and the sight of her teary face sent his heart skipping a beat. He wanted to embrace her tightly, and tell her not to worry and guarantee that Fate will be fine. But he couldn't, they were such intimate actions that would probably stop Nanoha from ever speaking to him again due to her shyness.

"It is your fault."

"Huh?" Yuuno looked up at Chrono sharply at his hurting comment, while Nanoha flinched and she felt more horrible than ever.

"It's your fault that Fate is lying here." Chrono repeated, though he didn't move from his place, or any of his position for that matter.

"Chrono! Nanoha is already feeling bad right now so can you just stop rubbing it off?" Yuuno scolded, his anger rising towards the black-haired boy.

"It is her fault. It is Nanoha's fault." Chrono mumbled again.

Just as Yuuno was taking a threatening step towards Chrono, Nanoha puiled him back as if sensing where all of this were leading.

"Don't start, Yuuno-kun." Nanoha said in a voice which sounded like she was pleading with him. Yuuno stopped and with a heavy sigh, he left the room, feeling rather pressurized by the tense atmosphere. Nanoha followed timidly behind Yuuno, but as she officially step out of the room, he turned back to take a short glance Chrono, only to received a deformed glare filled channeling mixed feelings. Nanoha immediately turned away and with little humble steps, left the room.

After the door was closed, Chrono realized how quiet it was. He looked at the unconscious Fate, suddenly longing for her cynical comments which wasn't very kind most of the time but held no ill intentions and her gentle laughter and giggles.

He neared the bed, gently touching her stationary hand. "Fate, please don't sleep anymore." Chrono said with a defeated tone. "Things are going wrong without you. I'm losing my temper easily, Nanoha is feeling guilty and even Yuuno, who is feeling sad. Please wake up, Fate."

Even without realizing it, Chrono was so tired that he felt asleep beside Fate...

"_The patient is losing consciousness!"_

"_Send her to the operation theatre immediately!"_

"_Call for the blood bank!"_

_"Fate! Fate! Brace yourself!"_

His head jerked up abruptly, and heaved a sigh of relief to know that it was a dream. As he rested his head on the bed and started to reach out for Fate's hand, Chrono realized her hand wasn't there. Once again, he jerked up from the bed and look at the empty bed, fear struck him.

"Fate…" Chrono said softly with fear. "Fate! Fate!" He quickly push open the door of the attached bathroom and the yellow-haired girl was nowhere in sight. He quickly run out of the room, scanning through empty corridors lit with yellow lights to illuminated the place which could be easily darkened by the outside time, which was naturally night time.

Then, he sighted a figure with yellow hair. Instincts told him it was Fate and he immediately ran towards her. "Fate!"

The girl spun around to see that the black-haired boy was embracing her tightly. She didn't respond, and when Chrono realized what he was doing, he uncoiled her from his embrace and looked at her with glee. He was even shocked at his sudden actions, hugging Fate and all. But he couldn't help it, he was so happy to see her well again.

However, the girl showed no emotions, but simply stared at Chrono with eyes filled with confusion.

"Fate?" Chrono called her name again hopefully.

"Lecher!"

_Next day…_

"Fate's having amnesia?" Nanoha, Yuuno and the pack of teachers hollered with shock.

"Yes. She has forgotten who I am." Chrono said disappointedly as he thanked the teacher who handed him an ice pack. He placed the cold pack on his eye, which was badly bruised due to Fate's merciless punch.

"That is bad news." Nanoha moaned. "That means Fate-chan might not remember us too!"

Sounds of worried 'oh no's chorused through the room while Nanoha and Yuuno looked closely at the black-haired boy. Trying to be nice, Yuuno asked politely, "Does your eye still hurt?"

"Yeah." Chrono answered half-heartedly. "Fate used a lot of strength."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Nanoha said sincerely.

"It's okay." Chrono said in a rather shocked tone because of what happened earlier on. But what was more shocking was that he no longer had the heart-thumping feeling he had towards Nanoha, unlike the past. He was relieved, he really was, but something was still lacking, something he was sure he wanted.

What was missing?

"Chrono?" The gentle voice of Nanoha retrieved him from Mars or whatever planet he had mentally went.

"Huh?" He responded and saw the worried faces of Yuuno and Nanoha.

"You seemed like you went to Pluto."

Bingo.

"Are you worried about Fate-chan?" Nanoha asked with concern.

Before he had time to reply, the teacher announced that they were going to look at Fate for a while, and at the same time, invited the three friends too. Entering the room, they saw Fate resting on her bed while reading a book.

"Fate?" Mr Nakayama spoke up. "Do you know who I am?"

"Of course. You're Mr Nakayama." Fate said with a pleasant smile, like she always did to teachers. The teacher heaved a sigh of relief but another teacher spoke again. "And do you remember me?" Fate answered the question with details; her position in school and the subjects she teaches. After another three teachers' worries were settled, Mr Nakayama asked again, "And do you remember your three fellow friends?" He gestured towards the three people who were smiling hopefully.

"Of course." Fate's face brightened. "They're Nanoha-chan and Yuuno-san."

"And how about Chrono?" Nanoha dragged Chrono to the front when she heard no 'Chrono' from Fate.

At first, Fate stared at the person with widen eyes, giving a thoughtful look. Then after a few short seconds, Fate's expression revealed that she had remember that certain Chrono.

"Well?" Yuuno prompted again.

Fate's eyebrows narrowed and her eyes grew smaller in hopes of having an intimidating look. "Lecher."

"Huh?" The rest of the people widened their eyes in shock and stared from Fate to Chrono and vice visa.

"I'm Chrono. Don't you remember me?" Chrono tried with a desperate tone and edged nearer towards her.

"Don't come any nearer, lecher." Fate warned. "Nanoha-chan will call the police and be my witness."

Realizing that his efforts were futile, he retreated and turned his back, leaving the room. At this moment, everyone had the same thoughts, none of which necessary to be announced.

_Fate had forgotten Chrono._

Outside, Chrono was busy thinking about everything that had happened. All the unfortunate things that had happened, especially about how Fate had forgotten about him.

Only him.

He buried his face in his hands, feeling an urge to scream out loud, to tell everyone about his predicament. He was filled with so much…sadness and disappointment when he found out it was only him she could remember. It says something. It definitely says something.

And he didn't even want to think about it.

Back inside the room, the crowd of suspicious and irritating teachers had already retreated for the night, satisfied with the knowledge that Fate is perfectly normal except for her memory of Chrono.

That night, Fate couldn't sleep and she tossed and turned. Something inside her felt unsettled and she was thinking hard what it was. It really wasn't a nice feeling to not know something you want to know and yet you don't even know what you want to know. If that even made sense. Finally, she settled in a comfortable position that stopped her from tossing and turning. She closed her eyes and decided to live with that unsettled feeling.

"Chrono...kun…"

* * *

A/N: Was that nice? Was it? I kind of ran out of ideas and I randomly thought of one and decided I will take one step at a time. If this chapter doesn't really make much sense, stay tune to the next one or the next chapters because by then, things will be cleared up. 

I hope...

Please review!


	18. I Found It

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Here it is: Chapter 18. Unlike my other A/Ns, I do not actually apologize for this time's late update because…well, I'm updating this story exactly 6 days after the previous chapter. So there!

**yonexfreak**: Thanks for the review. Enjoy this chapter!

**FlareKnight**: I'm sorry for that mistake I made in chapter 17. The dream was actually about Fate being sent to the operation room and all, it's just that I've forgotten to type in one more sentences. I've replaced that chapter so if you want to read it clearer, just go back there. Enjoy this chapter!

**anime-hime12**: Of course she will, besides, this is a Chrono x Fate story to start off with. Enjoy this chapter!

**Dr. Rondart**: Surprise, surprise! Unfortunately, this is not selective memory we're talking about (I assumed that selective memory is the kind of memory where people choose to remember something they chooses and forgets the memory they don't want to recall). What is it? Well, I'm not exposing it here so read on! Enjoy this chapter.

**Anon**: That is where I thought people will be confused about. Well, I can't reveal it here, so enjoy this chapter!

**tiyeara**: That's right! I've updated! Hooray for me, 1 less chapter to completion. Enjoy this chapter!

**1000 Sparkings**: About time actually, since he is always so oblivious (well, not always abut to certain things). Enjoy this chapter!

**Midnyte-Frost**: Thanks for the review! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too.

* * *

_**Chapter 18: I Found It**_

"Fate-chan! Want to come with me and Yuuno to skiing?" Nanoha asked excitedly to Fate, who was just transferred from the sickbay back into her room after breakfast, which had just ended.

It was morning and the air outside was renewed by the fresh snow which fell the night before. The air was getting colder, but that didn't stop students from gathering outside to have another day of fun and skiing. Besides, the duration of the trip is nearing its end, and who don't want to make the most out of it?

Well, Fate doesn't mind.

The yellow-haired girl shook her head lightly, her bangs swaying along with her small movement. "I rather rest here for today."

"Okay." Nanoha said cheerfully. "I'll stay here for a little while more to keep you company, Fate-chan!" The innocent orange-haired girl smiled, although Fate could tell she was actually "planning" something. But she wasn't going to ask her what it was yet, because in Nanoha's case, when she had something she doesn't want to tell, she won't. And although a little threat from herself helps, Fate had decided to be nice that day.

Suddenly, there was an audible knock on the door. "I'll get it, Nanoha-chan." Fate offered and went off to answer whoever that was.

"Wait, Fate-cha…" Nanoha said nervously and quickly rushed to Fate, who had already opened the door. Without even looking at her friend's face, Nanoha could sense her expression.

And her hunch was right for Fate was looking at the unwanted visitor with a rather unkind look. Fate's eyebrows narrowed, and her eyes grew a bit smaller with a glint in her eyes too terrible to be described.

"Fa…Fate-chan." Nanoha said slowly, fearing for Fate's response.

_Flashback_

"Nanoha, do you seriously think this will work?" Mr Nakayama raised an eyebrow with an obvious look of hesitant.

"Yes, I'm sure Fate-chan will get to know Chrono-kun better then. And maybe Fate-chan might remember him for all you know." Nanoha reasoned. "Even if Fate-chan doesn't remember Chrono-kun completely, at least they can build on some friendly bonds."

"That's true." Mr Nakayama muttered with small nods of approval. Then, he looked at Nanoha and smiled warmly, "Then set them up, Nanoha." His eyes twinkled. "But just make sure Chrono doesn't get another bruise on his eye."

"Yes, Mr Nakayama!" Nanoha replied happily and immediately rushed out of the room, thinking of the arrangements.

After the orange-haired student of his had left the room, Mr Nakayama looked out of the window while sipping his cup of warm mocha. "It's so nice being young." He had mumbled with a small invisible smile.

_Meanwhile…_

Nanoha had become rather hesitant at this scenario. She hadn't expected Fate to be this hostile towards Chrono. It was just so…wrong and out of place.

After seconds, or even minutes of silence, Fate turned back to look at Nanoha with a rather emotionless expression. "Your friend is here, Nanoha-chan." Fate informed and walked back to the inside of the room.

"Ah, come in, Chrono-kun." Nanoha said quickly, realizing that his friend had been standing at the door ever since.

The two friends entered the room while Fate continued with her previous activity: using the computer for random purposes.

"Fate-chan, do you remembered him?" Nanoha asked kindly and hopefully.

"Of course." Fate replied without taking a look at her to friends.

"Really?" Chrono exclaimed in surprise.

This time, however, Fate looked back, a look of hostility spread over her face. "Yeah. You're that lecher I met yesterday. I can't believe Nanoha-chan had a friend like you."

Chrono merely shrugged and looked rather disappointed, at the same time, a feeling of sadness overcame him and he wondered why. "Do you really see me in this way?" He mumbled under his breath. Fate heard it and simply ignored the statement, while Nanoha just smiled nervously.

"Anyway, Fate-chan," Nanoha started with a slightly serious expression. "Since I'm going to skiing with Yuuno-kun and you'll be all alone, I figured I asked a friend to keep you company." As Fate was opening her mouth to say something, she was interrupted by Nanoha's continuation of her statement. "You may not remember Chrono-kun, but he is our best friend."

"I don't remember him, that's all." Fate muttered rather defensively, taking a glance at the black-haired boy. A sudden emotion flowed into her, but she shook it off.

"Well, he'll be accompanying you until I get back. So bear with it, please?" Nanoha said with a pleading and apologetic tone that kept Fate from blaming her. The yellow-haired girl sighed, "Fine. He'll keep me company and you'll go spend time with your dear Yuuno-san."

"Thank you so much, Fate-chan!" Nanoha brightened. "See you later!" As if an avalanche is about to approach, Nanoha sped off towards the door, leaving the two friends together alone.

"Just keep a safe distance away from me." Fate shot a dangerous glare at Chrono, who felt his spine tingled.

Silent moments passed and only the consistent sound of typing keyboard could be heard. Chrono sighed so many times, which finally resulted to an irritated Fate looking in his way, her expression unreadable.

"What do you want?" Fate said with a defeated sigh, which actually shocked Chrono.

"I just want to talk to you." Chrono said slowly, choosing his words carefully just in case Fate might get offended.

"About what?" Fate raised an eyebrow. Chrono thought hard; it was so hard getting Fate to even mutter something to him, and yet he couldn't miss this "chance" of claiming back his friend. He wanted to impress her. He didn't know why he wanted to _impress_ her, but he just knew that he wanted to.

"Anything?" Chrono shrugged. "Since you don't know me and I _am_ your best friend, shouldn't you make an effort to, like, remember me or something?"

For once, Fate considered Chrono for a while with a thoughtful look. Chrono gulped, anxiously thinking of what was going through the girl's mind.

"That's true." Fate finally said after moments of silence. Chrono snapped out of whatever trance he was in and his face immediately glowed with joy, thoughts running through his mind such as how Fate will respond after remembering him. Although it was a small percentage of chance, there was still hope. After all, he didn't want to lose a friend.

Suddenly, Chrono lost tracks of whatever thoughts he was heading.

He realized that he didn't just want Fate to be a friend. He wanted her to be someone more than a friend to him. What role did he want Fate to be in his life? Most importantly, what were his feelings towards Fate? His real feelings…

"Chrono-kun!" Fate said loudly, bringing Chrono to reality.

"Huh?"

"You were in deep thought just now, weren't you?" Fate inquired.

"Yeah, I was." Chrono muttered softly but his voice was audible to Fate.

"Well, since you were suggesting that we should get to know one another," Fate closed her laptop and sat on the edge of the bed, facing Chrono with a rather shy look (Fate doesn't remember Chrono so she's kind of shy talking to a "stranger" face to face for the first time. Properly) "Why don't I first ask you, what were you thinking? When you suddenly zoned out just now."

Chrono's heart skipped beats. He couldn't tell her the truth, about how he was thinking of his real feelings towards her and how he was hesitant about…well, everything. "I was just thinking about the person I really liked." Somehow, he felt so much better after he spilled these words.

"Really?" Fate asked with a surprised look. "Who is it that you like?"

Chrono hesitated and looked at Fate with a mysteriously smile. "Wouldn't you like to know?" The boy looked at Fate and for a moment their eyes locked onto each other's. After a few moments, Fate seemed to realize this and quickly turned her gaze from Chrono to…well, anywhere but Chrono.

The blushing girl tried to suppress the red tint on her face but failed; the red colour was so obvious it was impossible to hide it, even with a veil. Chrono smiled and blushed slightly too, only it was well-controlled and whoever doesn't look closer with attention would never have imagined that a boy like him would ever have the ability to blush.

The moments of silence were long, and they didn't have any courage to even dare suggest something. Their hearts were beating so fast that they only barely breathe. Fate had only wished that Nanoha would return abruptly into the room, announcing that she had forgotten something, hence, breaking the silence. However, Chrono, on the other hand, felt rather pleased and at the same time, awkward.

It wasn't until Fate had found the courage to attempt starting a topic did the silence end. Since it was quite an interesting topic (umm…random drama serials, anyone?), the two friends had managed to engage in a healthy chat and both were just comfortable with each other.

Other than the unnoticed faint tint of red still colouring their cheeks.

_Meanwhile…_

Nanoha was inside a just-neatly-tidied room with her friend, Yuuno. They had skied together earlier on, but Yuuno had interrupted by telling the orange-haired girl that he had something to show her. At first, Nanoha was curious and what it might be and thus, followed him back to his empty room since Chrono was away at…Yuuno didn't bother to ask. As they were approaching Yuuno's room, Nanoha's heart skipped uneven beats, causing her to feel pangs against her chest.

Now, here they were together in the room and while Yuuno was searching for the item, Nanoha stood behind Yuuno, too shy to even ask for a drink or to go to the toilet, now that she needed it. she was anticipating what Yuuno might show her, or maybe with a lot of luck, give her the item anyway.

Whatever and however it was, Nanoha was looking forward to knowing what it was.

"Ah, here it is." Yuuno said, pleased to find the particular item under many piles of plastic bags, since boys were never really neat-freaks. Yuuno held out the rather big plastic bag and opened it up for Nanoha to take more than a peek at it.

Suddenly, Nanoha's eyes glinted with joy as she excitedly and hurriedly extracted the item from the restricting plastic bag.

"I found it!"

* * *

A/N: Yeah, well, I'm sure you all know what that item is at the end of the chapter. I admit it wasn't a really interesting chapter but come on, I can't make it seem rushed too.

So I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you didn't, I promise I'll write a better chapter 19, or else you can just flame me all you want, I don't mind. Besides, it's counted in the number reviews (hee hee).

Please review!


	19. DATES?

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and other distinguished names of brands or companies. (I so need to add this disclaimer from now onwards, unless I forget.)

A/N: Thank you for those who reviewed the previous chapter. You guys rock! Sorry for the rather late update but I hope you'll enjoy this chapter nonetheless!

**FlareKnight**: Was the interaction part that good? I was even wondering if it was too awkward. Anyway, thanks for the review. But let me ask you: do you think Fate really lost her memory? Enjoy this chapter!

**tiyeara**: Again, the same question I'll ask you: do you really think Fate lost her memory? I'm sure you are thinking something right now. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

**Anon**: Yeah, I'm sure you'll like this chapter because it's so full of Nanoha and Yuuno! Enjoy!

**1000 Sparkings**: Thanks for the review! Enjoy this chapter as always!

**anime-hime12**: Yeah, you're right! But I'm sure everyone should know that by now but yeah, well, you're correct (though I hope that nobody did). (Laughs) Enjoy this chapter!

**Hikori**: They'll be together very soon so I think maybe the story will end with estimated 30 chapters? Hope nobody gets bored! Enjoy!

**Dr. Rondart**: I thought I did put the topic they talked about. (A/N: Random drama serials, anyone?) Yeah, although it wasn't a good topic, at least they talked. And about the cutting point you're talking about, I have no idea what it is so pardon me. You said you wanted something bombastic and this chapter lags, well, my writing style doesn't include those and I don't want to (unless a _really_ good idea goes through my head) because in my opinion, those are considered rushed, so well, you might find my style a little boring. But isn't that what fanfictions are about? Expressing yourself? Well, I sure do.

* * *

_**Chapter 19: DATES?**_

_I walked down the road from school. The afternoon sun was rather torturous but some people might impossibly find it…just nice. The project Nanoha and I are working on is nearing success, possibly perfection if we ever have the time to even do that. While distracted by my thoughts, I felt a rather big impact landing on my head with a soft thump. I rubbed my head from the discomfort the impact had caused and look around for the culprit of my predicament. Didn't really matter if it was a thing or the person who had carelessly thrown the item. Looking around, I saw a teddy bear which almost resembles the one Nanoha has; in other words, the one I bought for her. The fur had been dusted with a bit of filth but the pink ribbon tied around the neck seemed possibly fine. Why was it there? I thought hard as those vehicles just zoomed by fast._

The look on Nanoha's face was endearing; the lovely smile forming across her lips as she hugged onto the teddy bear she had just instantly extracted. A sense of relief flooded over Yuuno as he realized that a good deed had been done. The happy expression on the orange-haired girl's face was enough to tell him how much the ordinary teddy bear meant to her.

Yuuno felt his heart skipped beats but he didn't bother to calm himself. He knew why he felt this way and he accepted the fact quietly, ferociously hoping for a chance to declare his secret. The secret of his secret love towards Nanoha.

He didn't know when it started and he didn't bother to think about it but to accept the fact that such things just happen. Maybe it was during the time where they got together for the project. Maybe it was because Fate and she didn't ever crowd around him along with his fan-club, making the shy innocent girl stand out more with her friend. Or maybe it was during the time when they walked into the teddy bear shop and Nanoha was suggestively mistaken as his "friend". Either way, he didn't have the heart to question himself any further after failed attempts at gathering answers.

"Where did you find it?" Nanoha asked the smiling boy.

"Eh?" The smile had been momentarily erased from Yuuno's face and what replaced was just a look of confusion.

"I mean, I kind of lost it somehow…" Nanoha then continued relating the chain of events that had occurred, resulting in the loss of the soft toy.

"I see." Yuuno gave an understanding nod. "No wonder Hana seemingly fell from the sky."

"You still remembered its name!" Nanoha said in surprised accompanied with a delightful smile.

Yuuno blushed and quickly turned away. "It's…it's quite a unique name."

"Is that so?" Nanoha smiled. "I knew it was a good name."

Yuuno didn't turn back to face Nanoha; he knew he was just too shy. Besides, he couldn't think of a topic on the spot to discuss with the orange-haired girl. Out of the blue, he remembered something, but hesitates a little about what he wanted to say to her. He fiddled with the end of his woolen coat, and his heart raced a little faster, unconscious all this time that his cheeks were rosy due to his blush. And Nanoha certainly wasn't helping very much by just continuing playing around with her Hana.

"Err…Nanoha?" Yuuno asked, his voice trembling a bit and did a failed attempt at calming himself.

"Yes?" The girl finally looked up from her precious teddy bear and for a moment, it really seemed that Nanoha had _just_ remembered his existence.

"I was just…wondering if err…if you would like to…you know, be my "date" for the bonfire tonight?" There, he just said it. His face was practically a tomato, only maybe even a shade or two darker.

"Su…sure." Nanoha replied shyly, hiding her face behind her orange bangs, hoping that it would cover her tainted cheeks even though she knew it wouldn't. She had almost forgotten about the bonfire. The day after she arrived, during the orientation around the resort, the students have been told about the bonfire, and even been warned that you must get a partner or else…you don't want to know.

Yuuno didn't show his glee outwardly, instead, his heart was almost bursting for joy. He didn't know what Nanoha is going to think of him. Possibly surprised or even find him weird? Suddenly, Nanoha stood up from the beanbag she had seated on and said, "I'll go back to my room now." Her rosy blushes refused to scram.

Before Nanoha abruptly dismissed herself from the room, Yuuno quickly confirm with her, "So I'll be meeting you tonight?"

"Yeah, sure." Nanoha said softly, turning back to look at the sweet-looking boy. Partly because she didn't want to be rude and make Yuuno think he's the world's most unwanted being, and also partly because she wanted to look at him before he go; you know, look at his expression and all?

Their eyes locked for a moment, and the shy orange-haired girl just had to spoil the moment by turning away and disappear from the room with a small goodbye. When Nanoha had stepped into the corridor and out of the room, she walked dizzily to the lifts, still wondering if what happened a moment ago was a dream. She pinched her cheek a little, goose bumps rising a little from her skin as the small occasional breath of cold wind swept through the lobby from the air-conditioner. Feeling the small stung from her cheeks, she released the small amount of baby fat on her cheek and let her hand fall. She looked around the corridors and then read the bright red numbers which ascended and descended at the lifts.

A smile broke out from her lips and she practically jumped with joy. "Yay!"

_Meanwhile, with Chrono and Fate…_

Surprisingly, the awkward moment between the two unexpected friends almost vanished from the air. The conversation openly revealed some of their "secrets" and their disapproval opinions on certain subjects, resulting a clean debate at whatever they were talking about.

"Fate, have you find a partner for tonight's bonfire?" Chrono asked almost out of the blue.

"I was planning to go with Nanoha-chan." Fate admitted. "The teachers didn't even point out the fact that the "dates" must be of an opposite gender. Besides," Fate rolled her eyes and her cheeks blushed a little pink, "Nanoha-chan and I are just friends and we are absolutely positively not GAY!"

Chrono gave a rather big laugh and Fate immediately raised her eyebrow, looking slightly offended at his sudden outburst. Chrono sensed the dangerous level in Fate and quickly wiped away the small tears that formed together with the laughs. "Sorry, Fate, it's just that…it sounds kind of wrong."

Before Fate could retort, the door opened abruptly. In came Nanoha, looking extremely delighted. It almost took her a few seconds to register that Chrono and Fate were present. "Oops. I'm so sorry for barging in. did I interrupt your conversation?"

"Of course not!" Fate said instantly. "You came just at the right moment. Come here, Nanoha-chan. Tell Chrono-kun that you're coming to the bonfire with me as _friends in form of partners_." Fate emphasized greatly.

"I'm not going to the bonfire with you, Fate-chan." Nanoha said confusingly. "I mean, we are going there together but not as partners."

Fate's mouth fell wide open and Chrono looked just as confused as the yellow-haired girl. "Who are you going with then?" Chrono asked, knowing that Fate wanted to find out as well, just more anxiously. From the looks of her face, she looks like she was ready to kill the unlucky person who had "stolen" her friend for his or her "date". No way was she going there alone, and although tons of boys would clearly ditch their dates to be _hers_, she wasn't going to allow a random person to be her date. Someone must draw at least a thin line when it comes to dates.

"Yuuno-kun." Nanoha said happily, perfectly aware of the hotness and the bright colour of her cheeks.

Chrono glanced over at Fate and saw her expression relaxed a little. "But who can I go with?" Fate asked. "I'm not going alone! The teachers will…" Her face almost grimacing from the punishment that the teachers had laid out, and it was so gross that she wouldn't even want to think about it. Who knew teachers can be _this_ playful that students can be freaked out of their wits?

"How about with Chrono-kun?" Nanoha suggested and looked over at the black-haired boy hopefully. "He's available, right?"

Chrono nodded a little more than he had intended to. He was full of hope and looking wistfully at Fate. A sigh escaped from the yellow-haired girl as she nodded reluctantly. "I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"

"No, you don't." Nanoha smiled widely and giggled. Chrono mentally heaved a sigh of relief, glad that Fate was his partner but still wondering why he was actually relieved. Realizing that she was actually disrupting their get-along time as intended, she quickly said, "I'll go and grab a vanilla latte from StarBucks." And then, she retreated from the room quickly, leaving the two with confused looks.

They glanced at each other most confusingly and almost in sync or on cue, they asked, "When did this resort have StarBucks?"

* * *

A/N: I'm not sure it was well done. Well, I'm extremely sure I had tried my best. I might not be updating for quite a while because currently, I have 5 common tests coming up and 4 projects uncompleted and to be handed in like, four days' time! So I'm sorry for the late update. Hey, I apologized!

Please review!


	20. Soft Whisper

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and other distinguished names of brands or companies or even words from lyrics.

A/N: Sorry for the late update as I was having tests and projects as well as revision upcoming exams. However, I still managed to squeeze in time for this chapter so I hope you'll enjoy!

**FlareKnight**: I hope you'll like this chapter, because there'll be tons of Nanoha and Yuuno moments inside, thought I'll leave Fate and Chrono for the next chapter. Enjoy!

**tiyera:** Hope you'll like this chapter because I was thinking, in my sense, this chapter is pretty sweet. Enjoy!

**Dr. Rondart**: I reviewed your story (duh! You know it!) and darn, I was hoping more fluff and all. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. It's all about expressing yourself!

**Anon**: Maybe you'll like this chapter because it'll have Yuuno and Nanoha fluff (I think). Enjoy!

**1000 Sparkings**: Hope I'll keep my humor up in this chapter. Enjoy this chapter anyway!

* * *

_**Chapter 20: Soft Whisper**_

Nanoha loitered outside the resort peacefully, kicking the ankle-deep snow aside and making small random traces with her snowshoes. She watched as the teachers started building the foundation of the bonfire with the assistance of a few resort staff. Clearly, they were extremely concerned with the stability of the bonfire as they were gathering after every short intervals, discussing in a lively manner but with equal seriousness. After all, it would not be pleasant to find it topple in the middle of the event with the hot flames still burning and with the possibility of some students getting hurt.

The orange-haired girl had been indirectly being "banned" from her room as the intended get-along session consisting of Fate and Chrono was in progress. Nanoha considered helping the teachers, but she was the only one with such initiative. Surely it will look and sound strange for a girl to want to help the teachers so suddenly. But then, she was bored. Her only reliable friend was not free at the moment, and although some friends did invite her to join in games and skiing activities, she had politely rejected all of them. After all, she had wanted to have a bit of time by herself.

Still, Nanoha found it rather ridiculous to have a bonfire in the middle of a snowy area. Wouldn't the fire just go 'whoosh', leaving only smoke to escape from the wooden structure? She found it amusing at such thoughts, and even wondered who the eccentric teacher who thought about such program was.

Sighing softly, Nanoha entered the resort once again, deciding that it would be smart to leave the snowy grounds especially when she has nothing to do. She walked gloomily into the resort, and the heat emitting from the heaters immediately gave her little comfort as she smiled in her heart.

"Nanoha." A voice called from behind.

The girl responded by turning behind to look at her caller. She immediately blushed after realizing that it was Yuuno.

"Yuuno-kun." Nanoha said his name softly. "Hi." She said lamely and she knew it. Besides, what can she say? 'The weather is lovely, isn't it?' wasn't a really good way to start with seeing the weather outside wasn't exactly as said.

"Hi." Yuuno started, his cheeks in tints of red, obviously still trying to get over the embarrassment about how he had asked her to go to the bonfire with him. "So…umm…you're ready for tonight?"

"I guess so." Nanoha replied, more redness crawling up her cheeks. She tried avoiding his eyes, but decided that it was quite a rude gesture. Her eyes looked up at Yuuno's face, with determination not to blush anymore than she should, but as expected, she failed, horribly as her face was as red as tomato at the time when she saw his face.

Yuuno searched intently for her eyes, hoping they would lift up to look into his. His heart skip uneven beats and his cheeks were tinted pink, but not as red as Nanoha's. The girl felt the boy's eyes on her and for a moment, Nanoha couldn't resist looking into Yuuno's eyes, the most attractive part of him.

She looked into his emerald-green ones (A/N: I'm not sure what colour his eyes are) and felt that she couldn't leave. Those eyes held so much feelings and so much hidden messages that she knew she would be unable to decipher. Their eyes locked, and Nanoha felt an urge to tell him about her feelings there and then. However, she managed to refrain herself, and with much willpower, she jerked her eyes off Yuuno's and looked away, her face still as red as a tomato and her heart beat faster than ever. It felt kind of sad after looking away from Yuuno's eyes; they were so mesmerizing.

Yuuno felt rather disappointed. For a moment, he thought he felt – or saw – longing in his Nanoha's eyes. Could it be that she had also liked him? He slapped himself softly at the ridiculous thought and decided that it must be his own false hope that is leading him to such "desperate" thoughts.

"Yuuno-kun, are you alright?" Nanoha asked, sounding concerned.

"Huh?"

"You were hitting yourself just now." Nanoha replied, blushes refusing to scram but those oh-my-gosh-I'm-swooning-over-you feelings seemingly evaporate – or that was how the atmosphere felt like to her.

"Oh, umm, I thought I heard a buzzing of a bee." Yuuno lied; unconvincingly that Nanoha saw through it but didn't think of questioning any further.

An awkward silence lingered between them due to the lack of topics to carry on the conversation.

"So where are your friends?" Nanoha tried.

"They're out there skiing." Yuuno replied, looking out at his friends through the transparent glass coated with some mist from the snow. "I didn't want to go because I had been out there for 3 hours straight. It's too cold. No, I decided it'll be much nicer in a heated resort. You want to go the lounge? Or back to your room? We can play cards with Fate-san and Chrono." Yuuno suggested.

"I don't think that'll be such a good idea…" Nanoha then went on about Fate and Chrono's get-along session courtesy of Nanoha. Yuuno nodded understandably, "That's good thinking, Nanoha. Let them get to know more about each other before Chrono suffers another black-eye." Nanoha giggled softly.

"So when can you go back to your own room then?" Yuuno asked. "You need to get your things and get ready for tonight's bonfire, you know."

Nanoha gave a small nod and a slight frown spread over on her face. She hasn't thought of this as she was too engrossed in getting her two best friends to "patch up". Now that she thought about it, she gave Yuuno a small smile and said, "I'll just go up half an hour before the bonfire. It'll be enough time."

"That's brilliant. So you want to spend the time in the lounge together?" Yuuno asked casually, though a big ray of happiness and comfort spreading over his chest.

"Sure!" Nanoha smiled widely, following Yuuno from behind as the two headed off to the lounge to waste their time away with computers and televisions and playstations until it was almost time for the bonfire. They left the lounge with quick short and shy goodbyes, both awaiting longingly for the bonfire, where Nanoha felt that something special will happen. The feeling sent her joy and she walk-skipped back to the room when the lift reached its requested destination.

When Nanoha reached the door, she hesitated. What if she was disrupting their conversation? But then, she needed to get ready for the bonfire, doesn't she? Surely Chrono had also already left for the preparation too. She pace small steps outside the room, every time when she slipped the cardkey through the slot, it always stop halfway. Finally, after a rather long moment, Nanoha made the determination to get into the room without any sense of guilt. However, the door had already flung open before her cardkey had even touched the slot.

"Nanoha-chan!" Fate said in a surprised tone. "So it was you I heard the footsteps from."

"Huh?" Nanoha simply looked blankly at her friend.

"I could hear random and abnormal footsteps and it sounded near our room." Fate explained. "So I thought it could be a thief or someone else." Fate showed her the stick she had held in her hand, resulting in only nervous laughs from the orange-haired girl.

"Why were you pacing outside the room anyway?" Fate asked when they walked back inside the room with Nanoha closing the door.

"I was afraid of spoiling the conversation you might be having with Chrono-kun."

"Don't be silly." Fate chuckled. "He left almost an hour ago. Said he needed to get ready for the bonfire. I don't know what the use though. All you need for "preparation" was wearing a few fresh clothes and dress yourself neatly and nicely. I mean, seriously…"

Nanoha wasn't listening; after knowing that she hasn't being a spoilsport made her relieved and her thoughts began to linger over Yuuno. _Again._

"Nanoha-chan, are you listening?" Fate said in a rather stern and confused voice, bringing the orange-haired girl back to reality.

"Yeah." Nanoha said slowly. "I was."

With only a small amount of time left, Nanoha and Fate quickly wash up briefly and found the best clothes they brought and wore them. The outside of colder than before as night approaches, and from above, they could see a bright orange-red. They knew that the teachers have already got the bonfire fired up.

The two friends walked down to the lobby, pressing the faces against the cool glass pane, watching the bright bonfire with amazement of how it was able to survive in the cold (A/N: It's my story so let it be, okay?!). however, it's not they cared or anything, so they headed for the couch in front of the fireplace for some more warmth until the teachers came in and called for everyone to get out.

Students reluctantly rise to their feet, but some were enthusiastic. Nanoha and Fate got up from the couch, scanning around for their "dates". A hand tapped on Nanoha's shoulder, prompting her to immediately spring around.

"Yuuno-kun!" Nanoha said with obvious hints of delight and surprise.

"Hello, Nanoha, Fate-san." He bow-nodded his head in Fate's direction and the yellow-haired girl returned the gesture.

"Shall we go now?" Yuuno asked, dramatically bowing down to receive Nanoha's hand. The orange-haired girl hesitated and looked at Fate quickly with a worried-reluctant glint in her eyes.

"It's okay, Nanoha-chan." Fate assured her after realizing her concern for her. "I'll be alright on my own and I'll look around for Chrono-kun. Enjoy yourself." She quickly said as Nanoha left with the yellow-haired boy.

"That Chrono-kun." Fate muttered unhappily under her breath. Only a few minutes later did Chrono appeared with an excuse that he was trying to find her but couldn't until now. Fate slowly smiled and her cheeks flushed a little. She looked away and said, "The bonfire is starting. Let's go."

Without welcoming Chrono, she quickly walked outside, leaving Chrono to keep up with her pace. The black-haired boy felt comfort around the girl, but why, he didn't know. Looking down at the girl who was inches shorter than him prompted a beat in his heart. And again, the same confusion and question appeared at the back of his head.

Nanoha and Yuuno reported at the bonfire amongst the crowd of students. Girls were now looking at Nanoha with confusion as they noticed the abnormally close distance they were standing together. And perhaps, they held a little disappointment and small anger. The orange-haired girl smiled nervously at the unwanted attention but Yuuno showed no feelings or held any opinions on this sort of behavior. It almost seemed as if it was a normal everyday routine. To distract herself from knowing that girls were secretly hating her in their hearts, she scanned around the sea of students for Fate and her companion of the evening, Chrono. However, her efforts were fruitless and she stopped searching when the teacher's voice boomed for the opening of the bonfire.

Immediately, applause and cheers rang throughout the surroundings areas of the bonfire. Being someone who doesn't normally fuss over events like this, Nanoha felt that the least she should do was join in the applause. After the applause has died down, Mr Nakayama started his speech, about why this school trip was planned and other boring that stuff that got the students to yawn dramatically and to shoot annoyed looks at the teacher.

After the speech has ended, a music was played, hinting obviously to students that a dance is to take place before the food and other programs they had in mind. Girls looked at Yuuno's way hopefully. They eagerly edged closer to him, and some daring ones batted eyelashes at him. Typical.

However, when they saw that Yuuno had made yet another dramatic bow, inviting Nanoha for the dance, whether formal or not. The orange-haired blushed and glanced at the other girls momentarily, sensing their disappointment and their anger towards her. Seeing that Nanoha was on the verge of turning him away from the dance, he quickly grabbed her hand and led her to a safe distance away from the bonfire.

They looked at each other with embarrassment, and suddenly, the anger of the girls wasn't any concern of Nanoha's. It was true that Yuuno had asked her to dance, but they didn't know how. They weren't experts in dancing and they weren't the type who would dance madly until their hair was all over them. Suddenly, the music jumped as it played-paused all the time. Finally, couldn't bear it any longer, the teachers switched of the radio and the moment's silence fell over again.

"We apologize for the music," Mr Nakayama said into the microphone but apparently, he didn't sound as he claimed. "While these technical faults are being attended to, please enjoy yourselves at the food table."

Immediately, students began to head for the food. Nanoha and Yuuno heaved a sigh of relief; at least now they wouldn't need to dance. _For now._ Over the loud noises of chatting and laughter, Nanoha could hear Mr Nakayama's loud complains ("This radio is new, for goodness' sake!") as she reached for a few sushi with Yuuno close to her. As expected, girls shot her disapproving looks, giving her death glares that sent chills down her spine.

Finally, the music began to blast out of the loudspeakers again, with a momentary explanation about the technical fault earlier due to the scratched CD. This time's music was, however, a bit slow but hints of pop.

"This seems like a suitable music to dance to." Yuuno hinted.

"Let's go dance then." Nanoha said, putting down her plate of sushi.

Yuuno led her to the dance floor accompanied by envious glares from the girls. However, they managed to ignore them, completely absorbed into each other. Yuuno held her close, to which Nanoha flushed deep red. Then, they sway to the music gently. Nanoha slowly placed her arms around his neck, thinking anxiously, _this is just for the dance, it's only for the dance._ However, her heart beat so fast that she couldn't calm herself down.

_Rather then beginning a sudden story  
I'd rather go on a directionless journey with you  
Come on, let's run_

Yuuno leaned his head against Nanoha's. Their soft and gentle sway made them feel as if they were not moving at all but a miraculous force was rocking them gently.

_Right now, these bright blue feelings of mine..._

"Nanoha." Yuuno suddenly said softly into her ear.

"Yes?" Nanoha replied.

"I…I think…" Yuuno stammered and finally bracing himself, he placed his ear softly into Nanoha's ear and whisper softly, "I think I'm in love with you."

_...that I've dreamed of and loved are floating up to the sky  
Oh undying anemone wildflower...  
This letter that won't be delievered will become like a star...  
And I'll have to say goodbye to the wind and sky _

* * *

A/N: My longest chapter yet! A great achievement (I would consider) since I'm not usually good at long chapters. Hope you like it! Next chapter is _**ALL**_ about Chrono and Fate! Look forward to it! 

Please review!


	21. Under Pleiades

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and other things that you may find familiar with.

A/N: I really have nothing to say so please read on…

**FlareKnight**: I'm really sorry to say that the confession for Chrono and Fate is not in this chapter. Sorry! This chapter is only scenes with both Chrono and Fate's lovey-dovey moments. Sorry for disappointing you. However, when the time comes for the confession, I'll make it super good. Enjoy this chapter!

**Dr. Rondart**: Well, regarding the disclaimer, I never though that I must write so much. I'll just always write 'the lyrics don't to me' like the disclaimer in chapter 20. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

**Anon**: Thanks for the review! Can I answer your question on the 'NOTE' after all this 'shout-outs', then everyone can know this really good song. Enjoy this chapter!

**1000 Sparkings**: Sorry for not ending with Nanoha's reaction. It just sets the 'suspense'. (smiles innocently) Enjoy this chapter!

**tiyeara**: Thanks for the review! I'll try my best to complete this. Besides, I still have lots of stories to complete. And just on a sadder note: I don't think there is any Chrono and Fate stories. The last time I searched, there wasn't any. Maybe I'm the only person who sees the light between Chrono and Fate? Please inform me if you find any Chrono and Fate stories! They just look so cute together…

**Hikori**: Yeah, I guess the StarBucks idea works pretty much on people. And yeah, Yuuno is finally being brave. And of course Nanoha will accept him! She's in love with him! Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

NOTE: The lyrics of the song belonging to the previous chapter are called 'Anemone' sung by Mai Nakahara (seiyuu of Teana Lanster!) from the anime 'Kamichama Karin'.

* * *

_**Chapter 21: Under Pleiades**_

Fate sighed. _This was worst than expected_, she thought, starring at the night sky. The yellow-haired girl sighed again and looked at the crowd of dancing teenagers. Feeling bored, she tried to scan around for Nanoha or maybe even Yuuno. Her lips were formed into a small smirk as she thought about the one day they were going to get together. Nanoha was a nice girl, surely Yuuno will like her.

She closed her eyes and took in the cold night air, and felt chilly air rushing inside her nostrils. It wasn't unpleasant, just refreshing.

"Here you are, Fate." A voice called and Fate looked up. She smiled and took the cup of drink being handed to her by the speaker. "Thank you, Chrono-kun." Fate took a sip from the warm chocolate. It was really thoughtful of Chrono and Fate knew. Besides, who would like to drink something cold in the middle of a snow field? Well, maybe people who actually danced vigorously and are _sweating_.

Chrono welcomed himself by sitting next to Fate. The wooden benches placed there for tired people were mostly empty since the event was only beginning. Like Fate, he took a sip of the warm chocolate and look at his fellow classmates dancing with smiles on their faces.

"You looked bored." Chrono started.

"Maybe that's because I am." Fate retorted, but not giving Chrono an unfriendly face. She just look stoned and completely spaced out.

"You don't like this event a lot, do you?" Chrono asked out of curiosity.

There was silence as Fate thought about her answer to his question. And then, she replied with a small and mysterious smile, "No, in fact, I kind of like it."

Chrono blinked. His mind was in a twirl as he tried to decipher her answer. Was she being sarcastic? Did she mean it? Fate, sensing his confusion, just chuckle lightly, "Never mind, let's have some food. I'm starving." Fate got up and Chrono followed suit. He felt his heart skip beats due to reasons he was not aware of.

"Here you go." Fate said as she helped handed a plastic plate and the plastic utensils to him.

"Thank you." Chrono simply said and took the utensils from her. His hands accidentally touched hers, and for a moment, he thought he felt electricity shocks. Fate must have felt it too because she quickly jerk her hand away after making sure Chrono had a grip on the items.

"Sorry." Chrono muttered as he brought his utensils and the plate close to him, trying hard to scan through the table of delicacies (well, not really) and to avoid looking at Fate. He wasn't sure if Fate heard his apology, and he felt quite unsettled because of that. What will she think? Chrono couldn't even find any options to that question…

It felt so awkward. The silence hanging between them was uncomfortable and yet, they couldn't help but sit next to each other. At times, Chrono stole glances at Fate's face. Whether it was the trickery of the light or his own imagination, Chrono could have sworn that he saw a red tint coloured her cheeks.

As there weren't any tables (teachers decided to be cool and thought tables are too formal), the two friends could only eat their food on the bench with their plates on their laps. Silence hung between them for what seems like forever.

"_Hey, there's Fate. I thought you like her, Akira."_

Chrono heard distant voices echoing from a clear spot a reasonable distance away from the bonfire. He narrowed his and squinted to recognize the 3 familiar faces of his classmates. They weren't close, but Chrono knew them all. And why shouldn't he? He was in the same class as them for a year now.

"_Yeah, approach her. Ask her for a dance. It can't do much damage."_ A second voice said in an encouraging tone.

"_But, Shinji, that is being too…" _The third voice, obviously belonging to a boy named Akira, said in a hesitant voice to his two companions.

"_Open?" _A voice said mockingly and Chrono recognized him as Shinji.

"_Straightforward?" _The first voice said again and once more, Chrono recognized the boy to be Yamato.

"_Stop pestering me, Yamato, Shinji!" _Akira said in an unpleasant voice, hinting of warnings about his temper.

"_Don't be shy now, Akira." _Yamato said, totally oblivious of Akira's growing temper.

"_It might be your once and only chance in the lifetime." _Shinji added.

Chrono could see that Akira was really considering now. He shot death glares to the three boys but he didn't know why he was so pissed. He ate his food in a faster pace as his eyes were glued to the trio.

After a long silence from the trio which, Chrono could clearly hear his voice filled with determination. _"Okay, I'll ask her for a dance."_

"_Way to go, pal!"_ Chrono hear cheerful voices of his two friends. As he saw the boy neared them, his mind raced with thoughts. Somehow, he felt…unsatisfied or maybe even angry. He didn't know why, and for a moment, he guessed that he was jealous.

"_Me? Jealous? What for?"_ Chrono thought mentally but he decided to revise that later. Without a warning from even himself, Chrono quickly stood up and went in front of Fate, who was looking at him with a sudden interest and surprise. As if God was helping him, the pop music suddenly changed into a slower one, though it still hinted of pop.

"Dance with me on this song." Chrono said quickly, and Fate widened her eyes. Whether she was surprised, shocked or happy, he did not know. Her eyes held too many hidden messages and contained too much mixed emotions. Chrono had been so sure of this as he continued to look into her eyes.

Fate felt his eyes pierce through her, and she tried suppressing her real emotions. She had no intentions to show them now. Maybe later in life but certainly not now. She was stumped at his sudden request and her inner voice keep urging her, _"Say yes, you idiot! Just say it!"_

"Okay." Fate's voice trembled slightly as her eyes strayed off his and Chrono knew it. He had several different thoughts in his mind about what Fate was feeling. 1: _What the hell is wrong with Chrono?_ 2. _I can't say no, can I? That'll be so unladylike. _3. _I do not have a friend named Chrono._ Many other came after but he shook his head lightly off those thoughts.

Chrono reached out his hand, gesturing to Fate that he wanted to lead her up to her feet. Fate's hand covered his palm hesitantly while shyly looking away from Chrono no matter how much he looked at her.

"Fate, I was just wondering…" A voice said behind them and they looked at Akira with question, but in Chrono's case, his questioning look masked his smugness underneath. Apparently, Akira saw the two of them holding hands and he looked disappointed all of a sudden.

"Yes?" Fate asked politely, not following Akira's gaze which she was oblivious with.

"Nothing." Akira said disappointedly. "I just wanted to ask you for a dance but it seems you're wanted." To this, Chrono thought triumphantly and silently, _you got that right, mate._

"Sorry, Akira." Fate said awkwardly, feeling the "stress" of the whole situation. "But I can dance with you after this one." Fate offered earnestly. Chrono shot Fate a shocked-beyond-belief look and threw a dirty look at Akira which went unnoticed.

"No, it's okay. I'm fine." Akira said in the same saddened voice. Without waiting for another sentence from Fate (he didn't really care about Chrono), he walked away, leaving Fate slightly guilty and Chrono warm and fluffy inside with another shot of triumph and joy.

Suddenly remembering that he was still holding Fate's hand, Chrono flushed but didn't want to let go. He quickly said, "Let's go, shall we?"

Fate replied with a shy nod, which led to various hopeful thoughts streaming through Chrono's mind. Again but reluctantly, he shook those pleasant ideas away. They approached a reasonable distance away from the bonfire and glanced briefly at the other dance partners. Chrono was so sure that most of them didn't have their desired partners, namely Yuuno and Chrono himself.

Chrono shyly hook his arms around Fate's waist, hoping that he won't get another black-eye. However, it never came, only the slender arms hooking around his neck cleared his hesitance and he held her tighter. The song was fairly slow, and the two swayed to the music.

Chrono felt his chest tighten, and his heartbeats increased with rates that he has never experience before. He thought about his real feelings towards the girl he is holding now, whether the feeling was friendly or something more. Then, he remembered he felt jealousy previously. Why? He thought the answer was obvious: he was protective towards his friend. But the answer was not satisfying.

Coming to a decision to push all other thoughts away, he closed his eyes briefly and felt the sway lightening up his spirits and brewing joy in him. He smiled as he felt the girl's body heat, about how small her waist are (he blushed at this as he thought it was a little perverted) and how her hair smelled so wonderful with only a fairly light scent of jasmine. Finally, the song came to an end, and Chrono was reluctant to let her go. Why? Again, he didn't know.

"I'm going to get a drink." Fate declared. "You want anything?"

"No thanks. I'm fine with it." Chrono said politely.

As Chrono saw Fate walking away towards the drinks, he saw her paces were slowing down. Then, to his surprise, Fate turned around with an especial jubilant smile on her face.

"You're a great dancer, Chrono-kun!" Fate called so loud that heads were turned.

Surprisingly, Chrono felt no embarrassment, even when he heard loud mumbles. His heart skipped another beat when he saw her smile. And then, he knew about his true feelings.

And all this happened under a bright shining cluster of stars called Pleiades (1).

* * *

A/N: Was that good? I was really rushing through this chapter because I wanted to update anyway before my exams approaches in like, TOMORROW! Because of my exams, I'll be temporary on HIATUS or you may want to read more on my profile page. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and as always, I'm not very confident about.

So please review!

**(1) Just a note, Pleiades is used to depict (in my story) how bright and hopeful Chrono and Fate's love is going to be in "future" (go look up on Pleiades if you don't know what I'm talking about). So that's about it, Pleiades has no other meanings (not that I know of). I tried to think and search about spica or other stars with hidden meanings but I failed, so I used Pleiades.**

**Oh, and I used brackets because I couldn't use the square brackets.**


	22. Indirect Approach

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Yaho! I'm back! Joy to the world, exams have ended! Okay, I'm getting hyper so let me get on with this chapter anyway.

**Hikori**: Sorry for keeping the suspense. It sure is getting reviews coming in. Heh. Enjoy this chapter because this chapter all NanohaYuuno-ish! Oh, and yes, I live in Singapore but is a proud citizen of Hong Kong. In other words, I'm only a PR.

**Sakura**: Thank you for the good luck because I really needed it for my exams. Not that any will help me because I am sure I did very badly. No matter, I'm back to update so feel happy! Enjoy this chapter. And yes, there will be something in future to symbolize their love. Hehe, what is it? Keep on reading! (Though it's not in this chapter though)

**FlareKnight**: Yay! As always, I've got a review from a fellow reader (don't mind me because I'm over-hyper today). Enjoy this chapter! It's all about Yuuno and Nanoha. Though I might fit in some Chrono and Fate.

**tiyeara**: As expected, some people don't see the light in Chrono and Fate. Hope you'll like this chapter because it's all going to be Yuuno and Nanoha! Enjoy!

**Anon**: Yup, I changed that already. Thanks and no offence taken. Enjoy this chapter!

**1000 Sparkings**: Haha, I'm imagining that right now in my mind and I must say I like it! Enjoy this chapter!

**Hika**: Sorry for the late update. Exams are being (beep!). Enjoy this chapter!

**joy**: Sorry to keep you waiting! I hope you'll like this chapter. Enjoy!

**AniimeChiick**: Thanks for all the reviews! It really made me more confident of previous chapters. At least I am now sure I can refer some things. Enjoy this chapter!

NOTE: I edited something quite insignificant because I want my grammar to be...better.

* * *

_**Chapter 22: Indirect Approach**_

Fate noticed her friend staring into space with a slightly uninterested look. She looked down at Nanoha's breakfast and realized that it almost seemed untouched. Instincts told her to look at Yuuno and she did, only to find him staring into space like Nanoha. Fate suddenly felt confused about the whole situation. It didn't seem right that both of them were staring into space and hardly touching their food. It was too...coincidental.

"Nanoha-chan, what's wrong?" Fate asked with sincere concern and Nanoha's eyes flickered to look at her.

"Huh?"

"You're not touching your food." Fate said matter-of-factly.

"Oh?" The orange-haired girl looked down at her plate of untouched egg sandwich with already-cold sausages. Her eyes widened slightly and she muttered an apology before grabbing the egg sandwich to nibble at it. Seeing the pathetic sight of her friend nibbling the sandwich like she was on a diet or something, Fate felt rather impatient but at the same time, grew concern for her friend.

"Is something wrong?"

Nanoha looked up at her friend with a wave of guilt as she saw the uncommon worried expression on Fate's face. Nanoha couldn't answer honestly; she would be lying if she said nothing was wrong, but then if she said that something was "wrong", it wouldn't be Fate's question of "something wrong".

"Nothing is wrong." Nanoha said slowly with a pair of blank eyes and a thoughtful expression. "There's just...something not right."

Fate straightened immediately. She casted Nanoha a serious look and instantly asked what happened.

"Yuuno-kun confessed to me yesterday." The orange-haired girl said in a rather low voice to avoid any unrelated people from eavesdropping.

"Really?" Fate's voice was low but it obviously showed excitement. She was definitely happy for her friend. "So, how did you respond?" Fate prompted.

"Nothing." Nanoha said simply with a hint of regret her voice.

"Huh?" Fate stared. A look of disbelieve invaded her face after exactly 30 seconds. "EHH?!" She shouted, inviting curious looks from students from the other tables. Nanoha didn't know if Yuuno turned to look too; she was too embarrassed to even look at him.

"Haha, nothing to see here. I just, err, kicked my foot against the foot of the table. Ouch!" Fate pretended to rub her ankle and the other students turned back towards their tables, continuing their previous activities. She glared at Nanoha with the what-the-hell-are-you-doing and the I'm-going-to-kill-you looks, sending chills down the orange-haired girl's spine.

"Tell me about it once we return to our rooms after the briefing." Fate said in a serious and business-like tone and Nanoha gulped softly while mentally whining.

After everyone has finished their breakfast, Mr Nakayama looked at everyone with a delighted smile on his face and gave his usual boring speech which held no meaning whatsoever to the students. Fate, along with some (most) other students, groaned of boredom when he said something about the successful bonfire the previous night. Since it was the second last day of the whole trip, students were awarded with privileges of doing whatever they want and their eyes showed mischievous glints with intentions that are...well, not so good. However, Mr Nakayama saw through their scheme and said after a 'ahem', "However, you cannot order room service and spend 24 hours in your room. That will be, err, quite unhealthy, of course." The students faked coughs regarding his last sentence.

Nonetheless, when the group of students were free, it was dispersed into small different groups. The minute Nanoha stood up from the carpeted floor; Fate instantly pulled her towards the lift and dragged her all the way to their room. The yellow-haired girl slammed the door and she was very irritated when a knocked sounded even before she got to say something to her friend.

"What?" Fate snapped as she opening the door, expecting to see uninvited souls. However, she stopped her glare upon realizing that it was Chrono. But that didn't stop her unpleasant attitude at the moment. Or did she just fake to show indifference? "What do you want?" Fate immediately said with a tone better than a snap, although it was quite hard to tell the difference.

"Am I unwanted?" Chrono ignored Fate's question and asked.

Fate sighed with an obvious hint of irritancy and pulled him into the room, slamming the door behind her. "Happy?" Fate asked with a fake smile, leaving Chrono as confused as ever.

"Anyway," Fate started with an intense look on her face while facing Nanoha, who looked expressionless. "Why didn't you answer Yuuno-kun?"

"I was too shocked to say anything." Nanoha lowered her head, prompting her fringes to cover the faint pink blushes on her cheeks as she thought about the previous night.

"Grr…!" Fate burst out hysterically as she stamped her feet on the carpeted floor. The faint pink on the orange-haired girl's cheeks brightened once more when she saw Fate's reaction.

"Are you talking something I don't know about?" Chrono asked and the two friends looked at him blankly, as if they just noticed that he was standing there "so suddenly".

A few seconds passed as the friends faced the boy blankly, and then Fate burst out every tiniest bit of information.

"…and she just accidentally "rejected" Yuuno just by keeping silent. Gee," Fate flopped herself onto a nearby armchair with folded arms. "Yuuno must feel like an idiot."

"I'm not experienced with such things." Nanoha defended herself softly but it was audible.

As Fate's eyes flicked up to look at her with a surprised and angry look at her, ready to say something, Chrono interjected her, "Why must you be so tough on Nanoha? Yuuno says he likes her, right? So she can tell him her feelings anytime now."

Now, Fate was agape, but nonetheless, she gathered enough of herself to retort, "This is about Nanoha-chan, isn't it? Shouldn't you be encouraging her instead?"

"Don't just say that to make it sound as if you're caring for Nanoha." Chrono's voice rose. He felt angry at Fate because he felt that what she was saying wasn't for Nanoha's own good. It was something else but he couldn't place it well. But he decided to continue anyway, "You're just being so uptight because you are seeing her as Erika Testarossa, not Takamachi Nanoha."

"That is not true." Fate's voice weakened greatly, her eyes showed those guilty glints that were strangers to Nanoha.

"Stop it, Chrono-kun." Nanoha suddenly said with a cold voice, interrupting Chrono. "Although I don't know who Erika Testarossa is or whatever you were talking about," She looked up at the black-haired boy, "Please don't say things that would hurt Fate-chan."

"Nanoha." Chrono said her name softly.

Sniffs suddenly sounded in their ears and they both turned to look at Fate. Her head was lowered completely and her fringes were covering her face. However, they failed to miss out those shiny tears that were falling from her cheeks.

"Fa…Fate-chan." Nanoha stammered her name, afraid that any comforting words would not cease Fate's crying.

What happened later was so fast that Nanoha or Chrono were hardly able to catch up. Fate had quickly risen and was dashing out of the room.

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha called after, rooted to the ground due to her own shock.

"Fate!" Chrono rushed out, determined to catch up with the yellow-haired girl, leaving a guilty Nanoha behind, looking worried.

She braced herself and with a determined face, she took out the pink teddy bear in her plastic bag which she retrieved from Yuuno some time ago. With the teddy bear clutched in her hands, she walked out of the room.

_This is for myself, and hopefully, Fate-chan will stop worrying about me too…_

"Fate! Fate!" Chrono screamed out her name in the plains covered with white cold snow. The girl has, surprisingly, such strong stamina that she ran so much faster than he could keep up. Asking several students, he gathered that Fate had gone outside.

Somehow, he felt worried for the girl. He suddenly remembers that Fate wasn't wearing a thick and warm coat while rushing out of the room. And knowing the kind of girl Fate is, he was sure that Fate wouldn't have the "face" to show herself up in front of him or Nanoha after all that has happen. The urge to find her increased as he felt strong winds blowing against his face.

SPLOSH!

Chrono ears picked out the song in a distance. Curious, he walked to the source of the sound, picking up his ears to confirm his correct direction once in a while.

Behind some pine trees, Chrono could clearly see the figure of Fate, her unmistakably yellow hair flowing behind her with her actions, which was quite violent as she threw snowballs at a reasonably-sized snowman with great strength.

SPLOSH!

Another snowball hit the snowman, giving out the sound and at the same time, unpleasantly distorting the snowman's appearance. Chrono couldn't help but find it amusing. And when he felt it was time, he made his "grand entrance".

"So this is the way you're venting your anger?" Chrono asked casually and he mentally giggled upon seeing Fate jump. He looked carefully at her face even though she only faced him for a few seconds, but it was enough to pick out a few almost-frozen tears on her face. Instantly, Fate turned her back against him and said icily, "Go away."

"Well, this _is_ a public area, I believe." Chrono said cheekily. He had no idea why but the Fate's angry look seemed to brew mischievous joy inside him. It seems to him that she was…cuter when she's angry. He knew his cheeks were heating up and he decided to shake off those thoughts while maintaining a straight face at Fate.

Fate didn't reply and the silence in the air was neutral. Fate continued throwing one snowball after another while Chrono watched her amusingly, while deep inside him, he worried for the yellow-haired girl who has less than what she needed to wear.

"Are you going to stay like this forever?" Chrono asked.

SPLOSH!

"Or are you going to ask me why I'm here?"

SPLOSH!

"Or could it be that you want me to ask you why you're here?"

Certain that he'll hear another sound made from the slapping of snowball on the snowman, he said, "It is quite childish to vent your anger like that but I guess it works for…OOF!" Chrono fell down on the snow ground and faked an angry look at Fate. The cold snow on his head was giving him the chills and he quickly swipe off the snow.

"Hey, can you not resort to violence?" Chrono picked himself up on the ground.

"You're too noisy," Fate said monotonously, returning to throwing snowballs at snowmen. "Shut up."

SPLOSH!

"That wasn't nice." Chrono said, hiding his disappointment of failing to cheer Fate.

"What did you come here for anyway?" Fate asked, facing him with blank yet threatening eyes. "I appreciate if you leave me alone in peace if you have nothing to say."

SPLOSH!

"I've come to apologize, ok?" Chrono mutter audibly.

"It wasn't nice."

"Huh?" Chrono quickly look up at her and saw her expressionless look.

"It really wasn't nice."

With that, Fate walked away in the direction of the resort. She shivered so much that Chrono could see the small jumping of her skin.

Quickly, Chrono took out his coat. As he ran next to Fate, he threw the coat over her shoulders and rushed away, knowing that she would clearly reject his black coat. Fate's hands grabbed the ends of the coat over her shoulders and wore it appropriately. A warm feeling gushed into her and her shivering ceased. Grabbing the front of the coat, Fate tightened the front of it around her body. It wasn't only the warmth in her skin and body. It was something in the heart.

"_Chrono-kun…"_

Nanoha knocked on the door, expecting the usual kind and handsome face to greet her. Her heart beat in uneven rhythms that almost caused it to escape from her ribcage.

"Coming!" The familiar voice sounded in her ears like melodious music but she shook herself from those emotional moments of hers.

The door opened, revealing Yuuno, whose yellow hair was damp and his clothes consisted of only a simple sweater above a plain green t-shirt and a pair of blackish-brown Bermudas. His cheeks were cutely coloured red, and from the fragrant smell he was emitting, Nanoha concluded that he just had a bath.

"Nanoha." Yuuno said her name softly, failing to mask the surprised tone in his voice. His pink cheeks grew into a brighter shade of red as he looked hopefully in Nanoha's bright sapphire eyes.

"Umm…err…" Nanoha stammered, trying to come out with things to say. However, Yuuno looked at her patiently, hopes unconsciously growing in him.

"Hana would like to play with Daichi!" Nanoha blurted out and held out the teddy bear so far that it was inches away from Yuuno's face, included that he stepped back a little.

Realizing that she almost hit his face with the soft cuddly bear, Nanoha retreats her bear and her cheeks blushed redder than ever. She didn't know that if he understood her hidden meanings and indirect approach.

But then, he must have, for she felt two arms wrapping around her body. The bear dramatically fell onto the floor as Nanoha happily flung her arms around him. His scent sent her dizzier and dizzier into dreamland and she smiled happily, her heart still suffering from the rhythmic beats.

When they separated, they looked at each other and smiled shyly.

"Yuuno-kun." Nanoha said softly.

"Yes?" The blush on his cheeks turned into from a bright red to a fainted pink.

"I know I didn't say this before but…" Yuuno looked at the girl confusingly but the small smile never left his face.

"Yuuno-kun." Nanoha said again. "Daisuki!"

* * *

A/N: And that concludes our chapter 22. Was it good? I hope it was. Just bear in mind that I had no spelling or grammar check because my brother made "adjustments" in the computer. By the way, just to let you know, 'daisuki' means 'I like you a lot'. But maybe you guys had figured it out pretty much. Or was it I who is oblivious to wide range of knowledge in readers? 

And because I don't know what sound is made what you hit snowballs at snowmen, I just settled for 'splosh'.

Please review!


	23. Truth

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and other things that you all may recognize.

A/N: I have not much to say except to hope that this chapter turns out well.

I don't think I'll be doing anymore replies to readers because, well, I admit I'm lazy so…Anyway, you know I love you all so enjoy this chapter!

**NOTE: I'm very tempted to rush this story and too bad, temptation got the better of me. So in the following chapters, you all might find this story strange and rushed. Sorry! I just hope I'm not too carried away…But I assure the plot will be the same as the idea I have in my head.**

NOTE: Just to clear some confusions about the timing and everything (I have a bad sense of time), after the school trip is already the two-week school vacation. Hope that helps… This chapter might be shorter than normal so bear with it.

* * *

_**Chapter 23: Truth**_

_Practical is the best has logged in._

_Fate has logged in._

_>>Practical is the best_: Fate, are you there?

_>>Fate_: …who did you think it was? Ghost?

_>>Practical is the best_: No. I thought you might be busy or something.

_>>Fate_: What do you want anyway?

_>>Practical is the best_: I thought we and Nanoha can go out together during the holidays.

_>>Fate_: She's too obsessed with Yuuno-san to notice us.

_>>Practical is the best_: Then how about getting together to complete our homework? It's practical.

_>>Fate_: Sure, why not? I have some questions I need help anyway.

_>>Practical is the best_: You? Need help? Is this Fate Testarossa I'm speaking to?

_>>Fate_: Don't make me kill you…

_>>Practical is the best_: Fine, fine. I get it. So when do you want to meet and where? Library?

_>>Fate_: I don't like the library. I'll go over to your place.

_>>Practical is the best_: Why my house?

_>>Fate_: Because my house has been invaded by you guys loads of times.

_>>Practical is the best_: Fair point.

_>>Fate_: So I'll come over to your house on, how about Monday?

_>>Practical is the best_: Sure. Want to come around 12 noon? We can have lunch together.

_>>Fate_: Okay.

_>>Practical is the best_: By the way, Fate.

_>>Fate_: Yes?

_>>Practical is the best_: I'm sorry at what happened at the school trip. You know, the second last day of the vacation? And it was quite awkward on the last day too.

_Fate has logged out._

_>>Practical is the best_: Fate?

Monday, 12 noon, 1st day of school vacation.

A yellow-haired girl stood at the door step of the Harlaown residence. She hesitated about pressing the doorbell. Inhaling deeply and looking determinedly at the button, she willed a shivering finger to touch it.

However, before she even made contact with the small plastic button, Chrono appeared out of the house in a black sweater and black pants. _Black is so his colour_, Fate looked thoughtfully at his choice of clothes.

"Hey, welcome, Fate." Chrono scratched his head in a bit of embarrassment, messing his hair in the process.

"Hi." Fate replied awkwardly, smiling hesitantly at Chrono. Her eyes roamed Chrono from top to toe, deep in thoughts.

"Come in. I just ordered pizza." Chrono broke the unwanted silence, turning and headed towards his house with Fate following close behind him.

"Where are your parents?" Fate asked, seeing that the big house was empty except for the two of them.

"They're overseas on business trips." Chrono answered, blushing so much that he turned away. Now what can you do with a hormone-raging 14-year-old anyway? Talk about being straight suggestive.

However, Fate nodded pensively and went straight to Chrono's room to put her bag down while Chrono brought in the two boxes of pizzas still warm. Chrono's room was simple, and in Fate's dictionary, typical and maybe boring to a certain extent. The room was quite big, painted light brown on all four walls with a bright yellow light illuminating the room. It was, well, not a normal 14-year-old's room but more of a "formally-brown" type of room, if you get what I mean.

With a soft beep, the air-conditioning was switched on, sweeping cold air across the room. Fate put her bag down against the leg of a black square table and flopped onto the bean bag while lazily switching on the television. Chrono placed the two boxes of pizzas, two plastic cups and a bottle of carbonated drink on the table.

"So we're studying after this?" Fate took a slice of pizza handed to her.

"Of course. That's our purpose, isn't it?" Chrono took a clean bite of the cheese-adorned pizza.

"Gee, you're boring." Fate commended as Chrono sat on the bean bag next to her, watching whatever channel Fate had switched to.

"Can I hug this?" Fate took a brown bear from his bed. It has a red ribbon tied to its neck and it was all soft and cuddly, though it was quite evident that the bear had survived for several years.

"Sure," Chrono instantly replied, his eyes bored on the television which was switched to the Cartoon Network and currently showing Lunatics Unleashed. The black-haired boy look amused at the cartoon, and even smiled widely at several occasions where the certain duck does and says stupid things. The whole show itself was amusing, and Chrono made a mental note to tape the next episode in his player.

"This bear looked vaguely familiar." Fate mused as she eyed the television from time to time, leaving her pizza on an unused portion of the pizza box.

"You think?" Chrono took another slice of pizza from the box after sipping some coke.

"Yeah." Fate's eyes narrowed as if thinking deeply about something. "It looks like the one Yuuno-kun gave to Nanoha-chan, except the ribbon was pink."

"When did that happened?" Chrono asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"You know," Fate's voice betrayed hints of impatience. "The time when we tailed Nanoha-chan and Yuuno-kun and you were really pissed about it?"

"Oh, I remembered that." Chrono scoffed. "It was really ridicu…" He stopped and looked at Fate with widened eyes.

"Hmm, I know I must have seen it somewhere…" Fate rubbed her chin, her expression full of disappointment realizing that she failed to remember.

"Could it be…?"

"That's it!" Fate's face brightened as she held up the bear. "This was the one Nanoha-chan gave you for your birthday when we were young, wasn't it?"

"You remember." Chrono said with a sudden dark voice, his fringe partly covering his eyes so that it casted a shadow over them.

"Of course I remember!" Fate exclaimed, oblivious to Chrono's expression. "Why wouldn't I? That was the reason why Nanoha-chan came late for your birthday party! She was so drenched because of a teddy bear. But I must admit it is kind of cute."

Suddenly, Fate fell on the floor as she felt the impact when Chrono lunged towards her. He closed in at her, pinning her against the wall with a serious face.

"Chrono-kun, get off me!" Fate said in a shocked tone. However, the black-haired boy didn't budge as she struggled from his grasp. Realizing that he was too strong for her, she glared at him, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Your amnesia," Chrono started and looked up at Fate, "It was all untrue, wasn't it?"

Immediately, Fate's pupils in her eyes shrunk and she looked away, "No, it was true." Her tone was so unconvincing that Chrono didn't buy her words.

His voice rise, "If you had amnesia, how would you know about the tailing Nanoha thing? And how would you remember it was Nanoha who bought me the teddy bear?"

"I…I just suddenly remembered." Fate's heart beat from the tension in the air and from the exposure of her little lie.

"Don't lie to me anymore, Fate." Chrono's tone sounded pleading and his eyes begged.

"Fine!" Fate retorted with a shaking voice. "I lied about the amnesia and everything! Happy?"

"Fate, why?" Chrono's shocked expression was nothing compared to how a sudden Tsunami came. His grasp on Fate loosened and he backed away by a few inches.

"Why?" The yellow-haired girl repeated in a shaking and ironically confused voice. "Because all you were thinking were Nanoha-chan, Nanoha-chan and more Nanoha-chan! Have you even spared a thought for me?"

"Fate, don't tell me you…"

"Well, yes and I'm telling you right here that I like you!" Fate's cheeks were red but her voice held hurt and disappointment, trying to avoid Chrono's face. "I faked the amnesia because I wanted your attention. I wanted to convince myself that you already like Nanoha-chan so I can forget you, even if you don't like Nanoha-chan but some other people because it was damn obvious that you treat me as a friend! Do you know how sad I am, liking someone who is obviously treating me as a mere friend? I don't want that!"

"Fate…" Chrono called her name softly.

"Now if you please stop interrogating me, I would like to leave." Fate rubbed her moist face with the long sleeve of her shirt. "I don't want to embarrass myself in front of you anymore." She quickly stood up and freed herself from Chrono's grasp, grabbing her bag quickly and rushed out of the room.

"Fate!" Chrono called her loudly as he looked down from his second-floor room at the girl who had so quickly hailed for a cab.

"Fate!" He rushed down onto the street and tried catching up with the cab but it was useless as his legs and his breath failed him.

_With Fate, in the cab…_

"Miss, do you want to stop? That poor boy is out of breath already from the chasing." The kind driver asked.

"No, just go on." Fate replied as a bitter feeling swept through her chest. "I don't want to know him."

* * *

A/N: Sad chapter? Don't worry; things will brighten up pretty soon. 

Please review!


	24. Arbutus

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Thank you for all those previous reviews! Here's chapter 24 so enjoy!

**Sakura**: Actually, it's like when someone suddenly pushes you on the floor and then they pinned you to the wall, but that was why I typed there "closed in at her". But please, don't thinking…otherwise or something else, okay?! Anyway, yes, there was a typo there; it was supposed to be "fell" and not "felt" but I changed it already with a few additions.

* * *

_**Chapter 24: Arbutus**_

Chrono flipped around on his bed, scratching his head for a good solution to place himself out of guiltiness and Fate out of misery ASAP. He knew that he liked her, but since when? The time when he got so upset knowing Fate has amnesia? Or the time when he tried to catch Fate when she got into a bit of a trouble in skiing and he felt so afraid for her? And then, there was this when Akira wanted to invite Fate for a dance…

Feeling irritated all of a sudden, he pressed a pillow onto his face and screamed, venting all his anger. Then after a while, the room was all quiet. Chrono looked at his phone lying on his quilt and swiped it quickly from its place. He flipped it open and speedily drummed his fingers on the buttons.

"Hello?" The receiver's voice sounded into his ears.

"Hello, Yuuno-kun?" Chrono said into the phone. "I need help."

_Minutes later…_

"I didn't know you had all those…experiences with Fate-san." Yuuno said in a genuine surprised tone as they walked along the stores without any idea where they were going or what they were doing. "And what is most shocking is that you like her in return!"

"What's so shocking about that?" Chrono eyed Yuuno carefully just in case he needed to "kill" him.

"It's just that, I never expected you, Chrono, to like, fall in love." Yuuno said with a carefree tone, earning him death glares and a small playful punch on the head that "killed" him momentarily.

"What is that for?!" Yuuno shouted angrily.

"Nothing." Chrono looked away, satisfied with his previous attack on him. Yuuno pouted at him but then, a calm expression was collected on his face.

"Why didn't you just tell her you like her?" The yellow-haired boy asked.

"Because she was running away." Chrono answered. "I didn't want to shout to her, I want to tell her personally in front of her."

"You're quite a romantic." Yuuno mused, he continued after seeing the confused look Chrono was giving him. "I mean, you prefer telling Fate those three words personally and in the face, don't you?"

"I thought everyone does that." Chrono looked at Yuuno questioningly.

"Well, you do know some people pass love letters as confession of love, don't you?" Yuuno raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I think I do." Chrono gave a thoughtful.

"This is getting nowhere." Yuuno sighed distressfully at his failure in "educating" his friend. "Anyway, you need something to show her you like her, right?"

Chrono nodded in reply. "I was thinking of passing her a love letter, just as you told me just now."

"Tsk, tsk. Chrono, that's too cliché and so unoriginal." Yuuno frowned at Chrono's lack of creativity.

"Any bright ideas, then, Yuuno-sensei?" Chrono said cynically.

"Of course." Yuuno brightened but an evil glint appeared in his eyes. "But if I tell, there will be no sincerity, will there?"

Chrono sweat dropped and said to himself, "You just don't want to tell me."

As they walked, Chrono was deep in thoughts about how to express himself to Fate. He wanted his gift to be meaningful and simple, something that will be able to relate his feelings clearly to the girl. But what? What should he give to Fate?

"Do you think flowers will be nice?" Chrono suddenly asked as they stopped at a flower shop.

"Flowers?" Yuuno repeated and stroked his chin. "Well, I suppose all girls like them." Seeing that they had stopped in front of the shop, he broke into a smile and suggested, "Why don't we go in and take a look anyway?"

"Okay." Chrono nodded in approval and they opened the door, leading them into almost a flower sanctuary. Different flower pressings were framed and exhibited on the walls, and what was the most shocking this was the whole place was almost decorated with ribbons. And then, since when was ribbons related to flowers? Unless you count them when you tied it in a bouquet…Anyway, the one thing the boys thought when they enter the shop was…

_We shouldn't be here in the first place…_

Moreover, in unison.

"Welcome, how may I help?" A lady approached them.

"Umm…we're just looking around." Yuuno uttered. However, Chrono wasn't even responding; he was patronizing the shop, eyeing various flowers with a surprising interest.

"What type of flowers are you looking for then?" The green-haired lady asked.

"My friend is still thinking about it. It's for him, actually. Uh…" Yuuno eyed the lady with deep concentration.

"Yes?" She asked, after realizing Yuuno was staring at her.

"Uh…I just found you vaguely familiar. Have I seen you somewhere…" Yunno said thoughtfully and then, he snapped his fingers. "You are…!"

"Shh." The green-haired lady said simply and placed a finger on her lips.

Yuuno was flabbergasted, but he managed a nod. After a several seconds, he smiled knowingly, earning him a small mysterious smile from the lady.

"Yuuno, help me out here!" Chrono called to him, and the yellow-haired boy immediately broke away from the shop owner.

"What should I get?" Chrono asked, a hint of distress included his voice as Yuuno approached him.

"Roses?" Yuuno suggested.

"Too cliché." Chrono reasoned. He strokes his chin; he needed something that symbolizes confession of love or something similar.

"How about primrose?" Yuuno suggested, fishing a single flower out from its original container.

"Why?"

"Because it symbolizes eternal youth, meaning to say you can't live without her." Yuuno answered.

"That sounds too…promising." Chrono said uncertainly. "I mean, I like her now but I can't promise forever."

"Fine." Yuuno sighed.

"What about this?" Chrono asked, showing his friend a stalk of pink flower with seemingly ruffled and pleated petals. "It looks pretty, and it's seems promising."

Yuuno frowned as soon as he saw the flower. "That's sweetpea." Yuuno introduced. "It means goodbye, departure or simply means 'thank you for a wonderful time'. It means that you don't like Fate-san at all and want to "say goodbye" to her. In a nutshell, it means rejection, but in a nicer way."

"Okay." The black-haired boy quickly dropped the flower back to its container.

After several flowers hand-picked by Chrono, they were all refused by Yuuno because coincidentally, they all held bad meanings. Those that were nice were all brushed off by Chrono by a simple "that's cliché".

"This looks beautiful." Chrono commented as he took out a stalk of…well, although covered mostly with leaves, there were still small bundles of pastel pink flowers attached. He hoped sincerely that it would not mean anything negative.

"That's arbutus." Yuuno explained.

"What does it mean?" His friend asked eagerly.

This time, however, Yuuno smiled as he explained, "It means 'only love'."

"And?" Chrono prompted some more.

"Well, the internet just simply told me this meaning." Yuuno shrugged.

"You look it up on the internet?" Chrono said, not trying to hide his shock.

"Well, I have to buy flowers that are significant for Nanoha." Yuuno blushed a bit and tried avoiding Chrono's face. "I couldn't exactly buy oleander that means "beware" and "caution". Nanoha will slap me for sure!"

"I doubt so." Chrono said. "She is too kind for her own good."

"That's true." Yuuno said dreamily but suddenly broke his dreamland expression and shouted at the sly-looking Chrono who were raising his eyebrows suggestively, "Stop changing the subject to me!"

"I didn't say anything _in particular_…" Chrono whistled and Yuuno ranted about how evil he was. However, underneath Chrono's triumphant air was a thoughtful expression.

Arbutus seemed like a good choice, since it held almost everything he wanted to say. Chrono remembered how uptight Fate had been, emphasizing that he was totally into Nanoha only. _She must have knew that I liked Nanoha_, Chrono realized, a wave of guilt sweeping through his chest. Jealousy would be an understatement, but obsess would be an embellishment to describe Fate's feelings at those times.

Nonetheless, Chrono decided to buy that bouquet of flowers. While the many stalks of flowers were being bought back to the counter by Yuuno, Chrono continued to wander around the shop, hoping that his choice had been correct. His eyes scanned through every vibrant flower that held devious meanings. It was a pity that they didn't mean anything positive.

"Here, Chrono." Yuuno broke his friend's train of thoughts as the bouquet of small whitish-pink flowers was handed over to him.

"Thank you, Yuuno." The black-haired boy said gratefully. "How much is it?"

"Ah, forget about that now!" Yuuno waved his hands about, pushing Chrono's wallet back into his pocket, refusing any payment of money. "Treat it as a good luck present from me, okay?"

"That's generous of you, Yuuno." Chrono mused with widened eyes.

Yuuno was about to retort, but a moment later, the thought of retorting vanished and he said with a small smile to his friend, "Don't you have somewhere to go?"

"Oh, yeah!" Chrono perked up and started for the door. "Thanks for the flowers!"

Yuuno simply waved to him as he giggled at how lovesick the I-like-being-practical Chrono could be. He turned back to the shopkeeper and said, "You know, you could have make your presence known to him, Lindy-san."

"Ah, what can I say?" The green-haired lady with a strange mark on her forehead said with a smile. "If my dear son knew I am here, a dear customer would be lost, wouldn't it?"

"Since when did you open up a flower shop?" Yuuno asked.

"It's not mine." Lindy said briefly, "I'm just helping my friend out. She is the real storeowner."

"I see."

"But then," Lindy went on. "Seeing him fussing over flowers has been so amusing. And somehow, it brought back memories."

"Memories?" Yuuno gave a confused expression.

"What do you know?" Lindy smiled at him. "He chose the same flowers as his father did when he confessed to me!"

…

A cab halted in front of a looming mansion, and the passenger quickly got out, pressing the doorbell furiously with a bouquet of flowers in one hand.

"Coming." A voice called from inside and the person revealed herself to be Alicia. "Gee Chrono-kun," Alicia said with a frown, "You didn't have to press the doorbell so many times."

"Where is Fate?" Chrono asked as he successfully masked his desperation.

"Fate?" Alicia repeated with a surprised look. "She went to the park, muttered something about hating Chrono-kun and said he was the biggest jerk in the whole universe."

"I…I see." Chrono sweat dropped as he felt a 1000kg stone falling onto his head.

"What happened anyway?" Alicia asked, interested.

"Nothing. Bye." Chrono turned away quickly with a wave, leaving a pouting Alicia behind throwing a dirty look at him.

The black-haired boy quickly jogged to the park, earning puzzled and curious glances from passers-by as they eyed the bouquet of flowers in his hands. _Seriously, do I look that strange holding flowers and running?_

Want the truth, Chrono? Yes.

As he reached the park, he walked between the two lamp-posts which greeted every visitor. Chrono scanned around; from the playground filled with laughing children and parents chatting to each other to adults and teenagers jogging and a yellow-haired girl walking her small red puppy.

"Fate." Chrono uttered under his breath as he saw the yellow-haired girl bending down to pat her red puppy on its head.

"Fate!" He called the name loudly and grabbed the arm of the girl. The yellow-haired girl turned and faced him, threatening to cry. His determined expression transformed into a surprised and shocked one when he realized that the girl wasn't Fate but only a 4-year-old instead.

"Ah!" Chrono said shockingly. "Sorry, I got the wrong person!" Chrono apologized.

"Ma…" The little girl stammered at first, and then, she wailed. "MAMA!"

After a few minutes apologizing to the little girl and her mother, he felt quite relieved as the mother had said 'it's alright' plenty of times prior to his profuse apologies. As the mother and her daughter left the park, Chrono heaved a sigh of relief.

"You're really good in getting into trouble." A familiar voice said from behind and Chrono quickly turn around to see the person he wanted to see so much.

"Fate." Chrono muttered under his breath.

"Seriously," Fate continued, not daring to look at Chrono, hence, facing her left, "How can you actually mistake her for me? You're such a…" She stopped abruptly, feeling a pair of arm wrapping around her body.

"Chrono-kun…" Fate said softly, feeling the tempo of her heartbeat.

"I'm sorry for everything." Chrono said in a soft tone. "I didn't know."

"But," Fate's voice shook. "I thought you like Nanoha-chan."

"I did." Chrono confessed. "But after what happened, after all that had happened, I realized that I still like you the most."

Chrono pulled away and held out the bouquet of flowers he had been holding all along to Fate.

"Thank you." Fate held the bouquet closer to her chest as if it was a treasure chest filled with gold. "They're beautiful."

"They hold a meaning." Chrono said cheerfully upon seeing the lovely smile on Fate's face.

"And what's that?" Fate returned a puzzled look.

"These are arbutus." Chrono explained. "They signify 'only love'. In other words," Chrono took Fate into his arms again, crushing the fragile flowers lightly. "I want to tell you that I will always love you only."

"I never would have thought Chrono Harlaown was such a romantic." Fate mused and her cheeks became tinted with red. Chrono scratched his head, clear that he was also embarrassed to say these things to her. "Chrono-kun," Fate continued and the black-haired boy looked at her with a tilted head and a smiling expression, "I love you, and it's not just a 'like'."

Chrono felt a pair of lips on his suddenly and his eyes widened. However, when he recovered from his shock, he imitated Fate and closed his eyes, returning the kiss deeply. Unconsciously, their arms wrapped around each other's body as their kiss continued keenly. However, Fate had the bouquet of arbutus in her hand as her arms were slung around Chrono.

Whatever it was, she didn't want to crush the arbutus. After all…

It was a symbol of their promising love, like the bright promising Pleiades that first hinted of their love.

* * *

A/N: GAHH!!! This chapter turned out to be so mushy! Probably because I was listening to a sentimental song. Haha. 

Please review and I hope you enjoy it!

**Next chapter will be the final chapter so stay tuned! And if you all want an epilogue, just include it in your reviews! Remember, I only do epilogues if **_**enough**_** reviews specified it.**

Yes, and I did say I was kind of going to rush this story anyway…


	25. The Last Day of Holidays

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha or anything that you all recognized.

A/N: Thank you those who reviewed the previous chapter! Here is the 2nd last chapter because I decided to make the next chapter an epilogue so enjoy this one too!

**Sakura**: Don't worry; your editing doesn't annoy me one bit. Besides, I like my chapter to be clear of mistakes too so stop feeling bad about it.

**To other reviewers**: Thank you for the reviews! I love every single one of you!

NOTE: This chapter is all about fluff! I hope… BRACE YOURSELF BECAUSE THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG LONG LONG CHAPTER with more than 2400 words!

* * *

_**Chapter 25: The Last Day of Holidays**_

"Ugh." The yellow-haired girl groaned as the new sunlight filtered into her room through the translucent curtains. She tried blocking the sunlight with her pillow as her head softly plopped onto the mattress but found that she was unable to breathe. Reluctantly, she sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily, stretching with a big yawn.

She turned to look at the clock, showing nine in the morning. Her eyes came across a jar filled with flowers. Her lips slowly curled into a smile as she remembered the lovely arbutus. It was a wonderful memory that holiday as Chrono and her went on double dates with Nanoha and Yuuno mostly. It wasn't that they didn't want to spend time alone, but Nanoha always insist that it would be more fun that way and they complied, thinking that it was true one way or another.

However, that day was the day totally reserved for Chrono only and not double-dating any other people. In other words, without Nanoha and Yuuno. Suddenly feeling light, Fate walked down the stairs to the kitchen with light and happy steps, humming a happy tone.

"What's up, Fate-chan?" Alicia asked casually as she saw her sister entering the kitchen. "You look happy."

"I am." Fate said brightly, pouring the box of cereal inside her bowl.

"What would you be doing today?" Alicia asked, facing the television in the kitchen, amused at what was showing. "Do you want to come to the amusement park with me?"

"Sorry, Alicia but I have plans today." Fate replied with an apologetic tone.

"That's too bad." Alicia answered, frowning at her and nibbling on her metal spoon. "I was planning that for today because it's the last day of holidays."

"Sorry, Alicia." Fate said again.

"It's alright." Alicia waved her hand to gesture what she said.

After breakfast, Fate ran up to her room and quickly shut the door behind her. With a dazed expression, she thought about the outcome of their date which she actually hoped that it'll end nicely under the stars…

Hey, who said a girl couldn't dream?

The yellow-haired girl hastily flung her wardrobe doors open and unhook the hanger from the rack. Almost just one look, Fate rejected all of them and frowned at the piled clothes on the floor. Linith would place them back later anyway. Out from the corner of her eye, she spotted a black free-flowing dress and when she felt it with her hands, her eyes widened at the wonderful quality of the chiffon and silk. With a thoughtful look, Fate undressed herself and tried the dress on. It was perfect; not so formal and even though it held hints of elegance, it was casual enough.

Fate went inside the bathroom and undressed herself again as she decided to take her bath. After which, she followed her daily morning regime for her skincare in the bathroom, lathering her skin with milky cleanser, smoothing her body with rose-scented body lotion and ended with a smear or two of blackcurrant lip balm. Who said lips don't need to be cared for? They're totally kissable.

Feeling confident, she faced herself in the mirror and smiled back at her reflection. "Yosh!" She muttered under her breath with a determined smile and grabbed a shiny white bag. As she looked into the mirror again, she figured she just have to tie her hair into ponytails.

"I'm going now!" Fate called when she opened the door, ready to leave.

"Ah, Fate!" Precia approached her. "Are you sure you don't want the chauffeur to drive you there?"

"I want to walk there on my own." Fate said and reassured her when she saw that Precia's worried expression has yet to fade. "Mother, I'll be fine."

"Okay then." Precia smiled finally. "Be careful."

"Bye mother." Fate waved to Precia who waved back in return with a smile.

_She has grown up, my Fate._

…

…

…

"Sorry I'm late!" A voice called from behind, prompting the black-haired boy to instantly turn around to look at the yellow-haired girl who he had been expecting. Chrono gasped when he eyed her more carefully at her. Somehow, he thought she looked more beautiful that day.

"Are you okay?" Fate asked as she realized that Chrono was looking at her with a rather dreamy look.

"Oh," Chrono snapped back into reality. "Sure, I'm alright." He faced the tall shopping complex and then turn to Fate with a smile, "Let's go in, shall we?"

Fate nodded in reply and her cheeks became a faint pink. Suddenly, she felt her fingers intertwining with the black-haired boy's and she immediately perked up, glancing at him upwards and saw the familiar blush on his cheeks. It was quite ridiculous for them to be so embarrassed after weeks of relationship, but some things don't change, do they?

"You've grown taller, Chrono-kun." Fate mused, looking at him lovingly.

"Well, it's the period of growth." Chrono said as they stepped on the elevator and waited for it to reach the top. "What movie do you want to watch?"

Fate scanned the rows of listings and the timeslots, looking for something suitable to watch.

"How about 'Over the Hedge'?" Fate suggested.

"It's cartoon." Chrono said matter-of-factly.

"So?" Fate faced him with a threatening look.

"Nothing!" Chrono said quickly and waved his hands to show his desperation to not receive any blows of the yellow-haired girl. "We'll watch this then!" With a quick pace, Chrono walked to the counter and bought the tickets, not even waiting the Fate to suggest something else. Although the black-haired boy knew he should be worried if Fate had something else in mind (he bought the tickets), he was fairly sure that 'Over the Hedge' was what she wanted.

Who knew that 'lovers can read each other's mind most of the time' was that true?

After the movie, when they came out of the theater, Fate was full of praises of the movie. "That movie was amusing, wasn't it? And that raccoon, it was so…!" Chrono smiled softly, watching his girlfriend rant on about the movie. Even though he knew that he ought to be irritated, he wasn't because it was her. It was about Fate Testarossa.

"Chrono-kun? Chrono-kun!" The black-haired boy snapped out of his thoughts as he heard Fate's voice calling him.

"Huh?"

"Didn't you hear me just now?" Fate pouted cutely with her arms akimbo, only to receive shakes from his head. "I'm asking where we are going now."

"Why don't we go for lunch?" He suggested after glancing at his watch briefly. Somehow, Fate looked rather disappointed but managed a nod. Why shouldn't she? She was a girl who was full of fantasies including a 100 percent perfect and memorable date and this wasn't exactly she consider "memorable".

However, to have a boyfriend as dense as Chrono, it was a rather good thing that he chose to dine in a Ben and Jerry's, a cozy and comfortable restaurant specializing in ice-cream. When their order was made and came within a few short minutes, Fate was impressed by the food she ordered, especially the ice-cream. However, as she ate, a sigh came out of mouth unconsciously.

"Is something wrong?" Chrono asked with a small frown. Obviously, he was curious about her sigh.

"Nothing!" Fate quickly said and flashed him a fake reassuring smile. Chrono didn't buy it, but if it was something she didn't want to share, then he wouldn't force it out of her.

After lunch, they walked around the shopping complex, looking for random things that might amuse them, no matter how weird and childish (mostly in Fate's case) they were. "Isn't this cute?" Fate smiled brightly as she held up a teddy bear to Chrono.

"Yeah." Chrono replied distractedly but smiled anyway. After a few short minutes, Fate glanced at Chrono at the corner of her eye. _He's doing it again_, Fate thought as he eyed from his face to his watch. _He has been looking at his watch for a while now_, the yellow-haired girl wondered what plans he had made, and wondered if he had abandoned those plans just to keep her company.

"Chrono-kun, do you have something to attend to?" Fate asked with concern. The black-haired boy looked at her with a strange look. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, you have been looking at your watch for some time now so I thought…" Fate discontinued her sentence; sure that Chrono must have gotten her meaning.

"It's a secret." His face neared hers and Fate felt a skip in her heart. "Don't worry; I'm not going to ditch you her." Fate sighed with relief. Taking a last glance at his watch, Chrono faced her with a smile, "Come on, let's go. It's starting."

"What is start…?" Before she could finish her sentence, Chrono had already taken her hand and together, they ran out of the shopping complex and to a place where Fate didn't know. Actually, she didn't even know where they were heading. But if it's with Chrono…

_It's fine…_

After a fair bit of running of approximately a kilometer or two…"Here we are!" Chrono said with a fair bit of satisfaction. Fate bent and grabbed her knees panting for breath. After that, she looked around the place curiously, wondering why she had never known such a place. The greenery was pleasant to the eye and everywhere, butterflies were roaming around flowers and landing on them tenderly, while the birds chirped happily as if singing a melody. She wasn't surprised when she saw little people, for even such a rather secluded and unwell-known park from town seemed uninteresting. In other words, this place is totally meaningless and ordinary.

However, when Chrono brought her nearer to the heart of the park, Fate was surprised to see a rather huge circle consisting of small blackish dots in her view with small gapes in between, and the circle ended with the smallest circle in the middle.

"What is that?" Fate asked curiously and excitedly.

"You'll find out soon." Chrono led her to the stairs and quickly ran down the steps. Fate tried to keep up and succeeded. When they were at the lowest ground, the black-haired boy continued to run to the center of the circle with Fate. Finally, they found themselves standing at the smallest circle in the center, a space that could fit two people and a little more.

"What are we doing?" Fate asked when she realized that she was going to stand within the small circle. She eyed the small black holes around her, wondering what the function was.

"Just wait." Chrono said simply. "Ten."

"What is this, Chrono-kun?"

"Nine. Eight"

"Can you stop your countdown for a minute?"

"Seven. Six"

"Chrono-kun!"

"Five. Four."

"Tell me what is going on or else we'll break up instantly!"

"Three. Two."

"Goodbye, Chrono-kun!" Fate huffed. But at the exact second Chrono had counted to "One", Fate was amazed when the largest circle on the outside was veiled the "in-ground dome" with its upright shooting waters. A few seconds later, another "water veil" formed on the second circle and then the third, the fourth, and the fifth.

Fate was most surprised and impressed when a water veil surrounded them in the circle. She gasped slightly with amazement and she looked at Chrono. The yellow-haired girl smiled and instantly raised her hands and hooks them around the black-haired boy's neck. Chrono was surprised at the sudden and unexpected embrace, but he was glad to know that Fate liked it.

As the sounds of water hitting the ground subsided, Fate separated from Chrono and looked at the diminishing water veils. Her mixed feelings resulted in a happy frown. "It was nice while it lasted." Fate said with elation.

"Look! Rainbow!" A little girl's voice rang in their ears, prompting them to turn to look at the small 5-year-old who was pointing ecstatically.

The couple looked at where the little girl was pointing to. Their smiles widened and brightened as they saw the single rainbow with lovely seven colours. It wasn't as if they hadn't seen a rainbow in their whole lives, but the current rainbow felt more complete.

Chrono and Fate looked at each other, sharing blissful smiles.

Yes, it was completed.

_Meanwhile…_

"Aw, we were late!" An orange-haired girl cried disappointedly upon seeing the reduced water veils.

"Don't worry, Nanoha." A yellow-haired boy said. "I'm sure we'll be able to catch the one an hour later."

"But Yuuno-kun," Nanoha frowned at her boyfriend, "There won't be a rainbow an hour later. Look," Nanoha pointed at the visible setting sun, "It's almost nighttime. There won't be any rainbows afterwards."

"But at least we'll get to see the water veil. Cheer up, Nanoha." Yuuno said in a comforting voice. "At least we have something to do while waiting for an hour to pass." The yellow-haired boy held up a basket and almost immediately, the lovely smile appeared on Nanoha's face again as she sighted the tip of the bag of cookies peeking from the cover of the basket.

"Hey, is that…?" Nanoha said in an astonished tone, prompting Yuuno to look her way.

"Chrono and Fate-san!" Yuuno said with the same tone.

"Let's go say hi to them!" Nanoha suggested cheerfully but before she could move a step, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked at Yuuno confusingly but the boy continued to exult an air of sangfroid, "Let's not disturb them." Initially, Nanoha couldn't understand, but looking at the couple more carefully, her eyes showed understanding as she thought in a different aspect.

While meandering the park aimlessly, they so happened to chance upon a good spot for a picnic, and with faces of glee, they sat down on the patch of fresh green grass. As they nibbled on cookies and sandwiches, Nanoha's thoughtfully look brought attention to Yuuno.

"Are you thinking about something, Nanoha?" Yuuno's gentle voice woke Nanoha from her thoughtful trance.

"I'm sort of jealous of Fate-chan." Nanoha confessed with a rather guilty and nervous smile. "I mean," She continued with dreamy glints in her eyes, "They looked so loving just now. It's like when you look at them, you're sure that they'll be together forever and they'll never break up with each other ever." Yuuno blushed at her mushy heartfelt words but he managed a smile. With a sudden gentle impact, Nanoha found her head resting under Yuuno's chin as his arm secured around her shoulders.

"Yuuno-kun?" Nanoha glanced up at the yellow-haired boy.

"Don't worry, Nanoha. I won't make you feel any less loved than Fate-san." Yuuno's words embedded hinting humor.

Nanoha's face lit with a smile and she looked up at Yuuno. Their eyes met and soon, the orange-haired girl felt her lips being pressed gently. Without any hesitation, Nanoha returned the kiss deeply, her hands automatically reached for Yuuno's face and she felt the yellow-haired boy returning the gesture by hooking his arms around her waist. When they separated the faces by a few inches, they smiled at each other, ignoring the red tints on their faces.

"I love you, Nanoha." Yuuno whispered into the girl's ear as her head rested on his shoulder. His arms remained hooked around her waist and pulled her closer.

"Thank you, Yuuno-kun."

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the very little moments between Yuuno and Nanoha but I promise next chapter will be full of their moments, okay? Stay tuned for the last chapter!

Please review!


	26. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

A/N: Sorry for the late update. I was having exams. This chapter will be the final one so enjoy! And I thank those who reviewed previously!

NOTE: This chapter is extremely long so brace yourself and bear with me.

* * *

**_Chapter 26: Epilogue_**

"Fate-chan, does this look okay? Is the ribbon crooked? Is the colour of the wrong tone? Is…"

"Nanoha-chan!" Fate said in a loud exasperated voice which stopped the anxious orange-haired girl's ranting. Instead, she suddenly felt tiny and afraid as her friend showed very obvious signs of impatience. "For the last time, Nanoha-chan!" Fate continued, "You look okay! You look fantastic! You're the most beautiful bride on this planet!"

"Are you sure?" Nanoha said uncertainly and held out the silky material of her gown. "This make-up looks too unimpressive…" Nanoha patted her cheeks lightly and looked up at the yellow-haired girl and backed away from her as Fate shot her a don't-make-me-start look. Nanoha tingled slightly and resumed looking at the mirror of the vanity desk with a sweat-drop, trying hard to avoid Fate's eyes.

"But it makes me happy to see you so happy as a bride, Nanoha-chan." Fate said softly, bending down and lowering her head until her head was next to Nanoha's in a very close distance.

Nanoha gave a small smile. "No need to be so envious, Fate-chan." She said cheerfully, looking at Fate's reflection in the mirror, "I'm sure Chrono-kun will propose to you soon."

"That is, if he could even get the correct ring." Fate scoffed lightly with a cynical tone.

"Ah…ha…ha." Nanoha laughed nervously at her friend's comment. Then, she smiled again and said, "But I always wanted to have my wedding with yours, Fate-chan." Her eyes drifted off into a dreamy glint, "Isn't it good if you were getting married today with me as well? Then it'll be a combination of friendship and love!"

"Combination of…friendship and love?" Fate inquired with questioning raised eyebrows.

"As in, when you get wedded, your best friend is by your side as well as your partner." Nanoha explained, turning and looking at her friend. "It just makes you feel really happy, doesn't it?"

Fate was speechless for a moment and she stared at Nanoha as if she was a mobile hurricane. In an almost ridiculed tone, the yellow-haired girl said simply, "You watch too much drama." Just as the orange-haired girl was about to protest, Fate's lips curled into a small smile and said, "But I thought that would be rather nice too."

"I'm glad you agree with me, Fate-chan." Nanoha smiled.

-------------------------------------

"So do I look okay?" A yellow-haired guy asked, adjusting his black bow for umpteen times.

"Boy, do you look okay!" His black-haired friend replied in a rather irritated tone. "You asked me that for the hundredth time!"

"You counted, Chrono-kun?" The yellow-haired guy teased playfully.

"Yes, I did." The said Chrono answered sarcastically.

"Mou, have a sense of humor." The yellow-haired friend hooked his arm around Chrono's neck and nudged his ribs playfully. "Don't be so cold and serious all the time."

"I'm not cold and serious _all _the time, Yuuno-kun." Chrono said to his friend. "It's just that reminding you that you look good for the hundredth time isn't exactly a good past-time, especially when I did that for hundred times."

"…"

"…"

"You suck, Chrono-kun!" Yuuno said aloud playfully.

"Deal with it." Chrono rolled his eyes and went to get the blazer, assisting Yuuno into the black coat. When his yellow-haired friend had his whole suit on, Chrono placed an encouraging hand on his shoulder and gave a smile.

"Do I…" Yuuno started but was interrupted.

"Yes, you are looking good." Chrono's smile fade and was replaced by a seemingly forced smile which was twitching ferociously.

"Are you…" Yuuno started once again but stopped midway when he saw the black-haired boy was on the verge of murdering. _He has good deduction_, the yellow-haired boy thought with a big sweat-drop.

_Maybe – just maybe –__ I got the wrong person for best man…_

-------------------------------------

The chapel was filling up with people; friends, family and relatives of the couple who was going to be wedded. At the altar, stood two young men; the yellow-haired guy looking nervously at the doors of the chapel while the black-haired guy looked nonchalant but if one looked more carefully, one would notice his anticipation as well. The stain-glass windows allowed light to filter through, brightening parts of the chapel with a myriad of colours, adding to the happy atmosphere. The skies outside was of a clear blue, although occasional clouds patrolled by.

Happy murmurs and chattering rose steadily in volume from the guests sitting comfortably at the benches. Heads turned at almost every interval at the doors, excited and eager to see the bride but disappointment kept greeting them and sighs kept exiting their mouths.

"It should be about time now." Chrono said, looking at his watch. He was standing at the right-side of the altar with the groom next to him, looking all nervous and seemingly unprepared. Time to time, Yuuno eyed the doors almost carefully, mixed feelings about the arrival of his bride. The black-haired guy, however looking so unruffled, twiddled his fingers with a twinge of nervousness which wasn't very obvious and needed a microscope to even know that it existed. Clearly, he was anticipating the whole event as well. After all, he was going to see his girlfriend as the bridesmaid and he blushed slightly at the thought of how she would look, plus a few of his fantasies; so gorgeous and lovely…

"Do I look okay? I mean, seriously, do I look okay?" Yuuno asked anxiously, smoothing the wrinkles of his suit uneasily. His usually carefree expression was tainted with fret and apprehension.

"You look great, Yuuno-kun." Chrono said firmly. "Now," Chrono eyed Yuuno who was looking at him confusingly, "Do _I _look okay?"

"And to think you were so I-don't-care-about-my-appearance before." Yuuno laughed softly but heartily. "Besides, you're not the groom. You're just an associate." Chrono raised his twitching eyebrows. "Um…and you're a friend and a pal too." The yellow-haired boy added quickly, seeing his friend's threatening expression.

"Okay, time is ticking so," Chrono said with a hint of nervousness is his voice, "Do I look okay?"

"Well," Yuuno said slowly, adding to the drama in the whole situation and the intensity into Chrono, who bit his lip lightly to refrain himself from hitting the yellow-haired boy. "For the best man, you look handsome."

Chrono tingled. "Why can't you use some other adjective?"

"Why?"

"Because I thought only girls use the word 'handsome'."

"…"

"…"

"I am absolutely speechless, Chrono-kun." Yuuno turned away from his friend in a slow dramatic manner, stifling giggles even with his back facing towards him. Chrono was about to question him when a music serenely made its presence in the church, flowing into the chapel softly. The sounds of door shutting merely prompted the guests, including Chrono and Yuuno, to divert their attention to the entrance. Seconds later as the wedding music played, the doors opened again slowly, revealing the orange-haired bride with a small bouquet of flowers in her hands and her arm was hooked with a middle-aged man, clearly her father, as well as the charming yellow-haired bridesmaid. Two little girls were by their side too; one on each side, dressed in fluffy white dresses with a basket hooked around their arms.

Chrono saw that the jitters Yuuno experienced earlier were vanished as he saw him beamed at his bride. The black-haired guy, too, admitted that Nanoha looked stunning, but his smile widened at the sight of his girlfriend as the bridesmaid.

When Nanoha and her associates reached the alter, Nanoha's father took her daughter's hand and placed them on Yuuno's. He merely smiled, but that was all that was needed. Fate stood by the side next to Chrono and flashed a brief smile before turning her attention to the ceremony. As the presence of the priest hadn't been catching any attention, Chrono almost jumped when he saw the balding old man in his robes in front of the couple, waiting to be wedded.

"Yuuno Scrya, do you accept this woman, Takamachi Nanoha to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do."

"And do you, Takamachi Nanoha, accept this man, Yuuno Scrya, to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

After which, Nanoha handed Fate her bouquet of flowers and they took each other's hand, slipping the ring onto each other's finger, smiling at each other blissfully. Lifting the veil slowly, Yuuno's eyes locked into Nanoha's sapphire ones as the veil dropped behind her back. They exchanged one last smile before they shifted nearer to each other. Yuuno bent down (he was taller than Nanoha) a little and gently pressed his lips against Nanoha's rosy ones.

Applauses instantly resounded throughout the whole chapel, even Fate and Chrono joined in. Moments later, their lips separated. Fate and Chrono assisted them out of the chapel with the guests following behind. Nanoha claimed back her small bouquet of flowers and laughed elatedly as she felt the flower petals thrown by the two flower girls.

When they stepped out of the chapel, Nanoha twisted her head and smiled. Turning to the front again, her arms were raised and she had flung her bouquet of flowers to the excited crowd of ladies behind. As Fate was chatting with Chrono for a while, she was surprised to realize that in her hands, now held the bride's flowers.

"Eh?" Fate said softly and looked at the front, discovering disappointed looks from the ladies. She turned again and saw that Nanoha and Chrono were advancing towards them.

"You got the flowers, Fate-chan." Nanoha said matter-of-factly.

"I did." Fate muttered. Her initially blank and confused expression bloomed into a smiling one. She looked Chrono, who was blushing obviously and scratching his head, embarrassed.

"I'll see you later, Fate-chan." The yellow-haired girl turned and saw Nanoha waving to her as she and Yuuno returned to the black car decorated with laces, silk and flowers.

"Good luck, Chrono-kun!" Yuuno shouted so loudly at his direction that passers-by stared from Chrono to Fate repeatedly with confused expressions. However, Chrono didn't return a loud reply; instead, he just imitated Fate and waved to the newly-wedded couple.

As their car drove into the setting sun, the guests slowly dispersed. After all, they were going to meet each other at the wedding reception later in the later afternoon anyway.

"Let's go too, Chrono-kun." Fate started to walk but felt someone pulling her back. Instinctively, she turned abruptly only to be greeted by Chrono's lips on hers.

"Chro…Chrono-kun." Fate muttered his name softly.

"Fate," Chrono held her waist and pulled her near him. His face was of an unknown expression and held so many mixed feelings that Fate couldn't make out what he was going to do.

"Yes?" The yellow-haired girl could only respond with the simple monosyllabic reply.

"Marry me." As soon as the words exited from Chrono's mouth, he blushed a deep red.

Fate gasped softly. Then, she turned away from his eyes and nodded shyly. Chrono's mouth dropped open due to happiness and surprise. As he was going to kiss her again, Fate said with a faked air of seriousness and displeasure, "Where is the ring? Have you forgotten it?"

Chrono stared for a moment before bursting in a small fit of giggles. After regaining his composure, he reached for his pocket and fished out a velvety box, opening it for Fate to see. Her expression was a joyful one, small stream of tears showed how touched she was.

Immediately, she leaped on Chrono, hooking her arms around his neck. Chrono smiled and returned the gesture by holding onto her waist and drawing her close.

"Arigatou, Chrono-kun." Fate whispered into his ear; and the two of them drew closer again.

_5 years later…_

"Mama, are we going to meet Vivio-chan soon?" A small black-haired and amethyst-eyed girl asked enthusiastically, jumping up and down the seat behind while looking out of the car window pane.

"Yes, Lily. We're going to see her now." The little girl's mother smiled at her lively daughter lovingly.

"Yup, we're here." The father sitting at the driver's seat announced. The gates of the house opened slowly and the car entered the compound shortly after. There were two parking spaces and hence, the car was stopped at the second parking space.

"Lily, wait for us." The mother called after the girl who was running so excitedly to the main house. It was quite a big terrace house with a touch of Victorian style. The pond a stone away from the door caught the black-haired girl's attention as usual and she tiptoed and stared inside, smiling widely at the koi swimming so happily.

"Quick, papa, mama!" Lily shouted across to them, deserting her attention of the koi and continued to run towards the door. Suddenly, she bumped into something…or someone.

"My, Lily-chan, are you hurt?" A lady asked, abandoning the grip on the handle of the door and bending down to check the girl.

"Lily-chan!" Her mother and father rushed towards her. Her mother scolded, "You should look where you are going. Are you hurt?"

"Don't worry, Fate-chan." The lady at the door said ensured the said Fate. "She's not hurt at all; she just bumped into me, that's all. I was wondering if you came already because I heard Lily-chan's lively voice." She patted the black-haired girl's head, who smiled brightly. "Ah, welcome, Chrono-kun." The lady greeted as soon as the Fate's husband came in sight.

"Good afternoon, Nanoha." Chrono returned the greeting and bow a little. "Where is Yuuno?"

"Inside playing with Vivio-chan." Nanoha smiled brightly, "She grew up so fast…" Suddenly, she snapped out of her thoughts. "Where are my manners? Come in, Fate-chan, Chrono-kun. I baked cookies for you, Lily-chan." Nanoha pinched the girl's nose lightly. As her guests came into the house, the orange-haired lady closed the door behind them, guiding them politely to the living room.

"Ah, you are finally here." Another deep voice greeted them.

"Yuuno-kun." Nanoha said simply, watching as he exited the room and walking towards them.

"So what took you so long? Doing things with your wife, Chrono-kun?" Yuuno teased and raised his eyebrows repeatedly until Chrono hit him hard on the head. "That really hurts." Yuuno pouted.

"Serves you right." Chrono replied. The two wives and Lily sweat-dropped at their childish tactics.

"Lily-chan!" A soft voice called, prompting the black-haired girl to turn.

"Vivio-chan!" Lily greeted and with much enthusiasm, she ran forward and they shared a friendly hug. Vivio's yellow hair flowed with the impact and her red and green eyes looked at Lily warmly.

"Welcome, Lily-chan." Vivio smiled at her friend's friendliness. "Mama and papa bought me a new set of dolls. Come to my room?"

"Sure!" And the two girls went running into the room at the end of the hallway.

"I'll take some cookies and juice for you girls." Nanoha called after them.

"Thank you, mama." Vivio thanked her mother and continued heading towards her room with Lily.

Yuuno gestured them to sit down on the couch while he sat down opposite them. Nanoha entered the kitchen and walked out with a tray of cookies and two glasses of juice, delivering them to the two children inside the room. Then, she went into the kitchen and came out with another two glasses of juice. She walked towards the three adults and placed the glasses on the coffee table in front of Fate and Chrono.

"Thank you, Nanoha-chan. Are they playing nicely inside?" Fate asked and sipped her orange juice.

"Yes, they are. I'm glad they like the cookies I baked for them." Nanoha smiled.

"You have to admit that you are a good cook and a good baker." Yuuno praised with a proud glint in his eyes.

"Thank you, Yuuno-kun." Nanoha sat next to him on the 2-seater sofa across Fate and Chrono with the glass coffee table in the middle.

And they chatted happily on many things with the sound of trickling water in the background from the small water fountain.

* * *

A/N: I know it's not an interesting way to end but…well, I didn't know how to end it with their daughters inside the story. 

Anyway, this is the last chapter and I appreciate all those who reviewed. I know I should list all the names of the reviewers here but I'm too lazy. And I'm sure that you won't want to strain your eyes for your names right? So whoever reviewed, I extend my most sincere thanks. I mean it seriously.

That's all for now! Who knows? I might come back with another Nanoha story!

Please review!


End file.
